Going on vacation for one week per year and you have no specific plans? How about some rest?
I need to be forced to rest because I pride myself in being busy. God knows this about me and so through failed exams, unexpected injuries, concerned friends, and decreased energy, the Lord has been showing me this year that I am stubborn and that sometimes I need to take some time to rest.
Even God rested and He commands us to take a day of rest each week.
"And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation." - Genesis 2:2-3
"But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." - Exodus 20:10-11
So am I ever really taking a sabbath? What is that supposed to look like? What qualifies as work?
In the book of Exodus God commanded the Israelites to set aside one day every seven days as a holy day to the LORD. On it they were to do no work.
Though I may not go to work on Sundays, I still find myself working. Doing housework, ministry work, homework... some kind of work is always done every day of the week.
In an article John Piper explains the sabbath commandment as God saying in effect:
"Let my highest creature, the one in my image, stop every seven days and commemorate with me the fact that I am the creator who has done all this. Let him stop working and focus on me, that I am the source of all that he has. I am the fountain of blessing. I have made the very hands and mind with which he works. Let one day out of seven demonstrate that all land and all animals and all raw materials and all breath and strength and thought and emotion and everything come from me. Let man look to me in leisure one day out of seven for the blessing that is so elusive in the affairs of this world."
Furthermore, see what God says in Isaiah regarding the Sabbath:
"If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;" - Isaiah 58:13-14
It is made clear that the Sabbath is to be a day for us to remember who God is and to delight in Him, not letting anything distract us from enjoying our Lord. We should look upon it as a blessing and a priority, never a burden. If we disobey this commandment it shows that our hearts are more concerned with the things of this world than what the Lord has for us. Piper continues in his article, "It is a day for showing mercy and a day for doing good. It should not be governed rigidly by narrow definitions of what is work and what is not. It is a day to focus on the Lord."
The article summarizes the discussion about the Sabbath like this:
"Accept the gift of one day's rest a week. Humble yourself to believe you need it. And be willing to admit that your wealth and your significance and your true advancement in life depend far more on God's labor than on yours.
Devote one day a week to focus your attention on God in a special way. Keep a holy day and devote yourself to those things that deepen your love for God.
Except where you think obedience to God requires otherwise, let that day of rest and Godward focus be on the first day of the week as a witness to the world that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your sabbath and of your life."
I want to work hard to make this happen in my life for the glory of the Lord :)
If you wish to read the whole article, click the link below:
http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/remember-the-sabbath-day-to-keep-it-holy
I need to be forced to rest because I pride myself in being busy. God knows this about me and so through failed exams, unexpected injuries, concerned friends, and decreased energy, the Lord has been showing me this year that I am stubborn and that sometimes I need to take some time to rest.
Even God rested and He commands us to take a day of rest each week.
"And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation." - Genesis 2:2-3
"But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." - Exodus 20:10-11
So am I ever really taking a sabbath? What is that supposed to look like? What qualifies as work?
In the book of Exodus God commanded the Israelites to set aside one day every seven days as a holy day to the LORD. On it they were to do no work.
Though I may not go to work on Sundays, I still find myself working. Doing housework, ministry work, homework... some kind of work is always done every day of the week.
In an article John Piper explains the sabbath commandment as God saying in effect:
"Let my highest creature, the one in my image, stop every seven days and commemorate with me the fact that I am the creator who has done all this. Let him stop working and focus on me, that I am the source of all that he has. I am the fountain of blessing. I have made the very hands and mind with which he works. Let one day out of seven demonstrate that all land and all animals and all raw materials and all breath and strength and thought and emotion and everything come from me. Let man look to me in leisure one day out of seven for the blessing that is so elusive in the affairs of this world."
Furthermore, see what God says in Isaiah regarding the Sabbath:
"If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;" - Isaiah 58:13-14
It is made clear that the Sabbath is to be a day for us to remember who God is and to delight in Him, not letting anything distract us from enjoying our Lord. We should look upon it as a blessing and a priority, never a burden. If we disobey this commandment it shows that our hearts are more concerned with the things of this world than what the Lord has for us. Piper continues in his article, "It is a day for showing mercy and a day for doing good. It should not be governed rigidly by narrow definitions of what is work and what is not. It is a day to focus on the Lord."
The article summarizes the discussion about the Sabbath like this:
"Accept the gift of one day's rest a week. Humble yourself to believe you need it. And be willing to admit that your wealth and your significance and your true advancement in life depend far more on God's labor than on yours.
Devote one day a week to focus your attention on God in a special way. Keep a holy day and devote yourself to those things that deepen your love for God.
Except where you think obedience to God requires otherwise, let that day of rest and Godward focus be on the first day of the week as a witness to the world that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your sabbath and of your life."
I want to work hard to make this happen in my life for the glory of the Lord :)
If you wish to read the whole article, click the link below:
http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/remember-the-sabbath-day-to-keep-it-holy
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