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Day 7 Be His

You know Sabbath is a commandment, right?

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God..." (Exodus 20:8-11).

No one, not even servants were supposed to work on the Sabbath.  God regarded this commandment to be just as important as "do not murder." With this kind of severity (and there were major consequences for not keeping the Sabbath in the old testament), why don't we hold ourselves accountable to this commandment as often as we should?

We live in a world that tells us to do and forget being.  I mean, be yourself, but that means do all the things that will make you unique.  We are valued by what we accomplish and how many unique abilities we have.  I know that I am guilty of finding my worth in what I do, I've shared this before.  Maybe that's why we hear so many worship songs about God's love for us-- we know that we don't have to earn God's love, but we live like we do. 

I think that's partly why God created Sabbath.  He knew us and designed us for work and to do good things and to have amazing abilities, but he also knew that we'd forget that we are not those things.  We are his, and he loves us because of it. Trying to earn love is exhausting, and that's why we have grace.  His mercies are new every morning, not because we have worked hard, but the exact opposite.  We don't get what we deserve (which is, eternal separation from God) because Jesus did the work for us. 

"You stand before God as if you were Christ because Christ stood before God as if he were you."
-Charles Spurgeon

So what if we took Sabbath seriously? Not just taking time to rest physically, but putting down our phones, turning off the TV (even if the football game is on... I know, a horrid thought), and just being still. Being in the presence of our Father.  Acknowledging where we are, who we are, and all the ways God has worked in our day or week.  Let's rest in his goodness and in his promises because tomorrow will come and the things will get done-- they always do.  So just be his.

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