Modern Sabbath

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Rest

God has been dealing with my heart concerning a Sabbath day. If you’re like me it isn’t something that you think about often. My mind is continually moving. When I fall asleep I fall asleep thinking. When I wake up: I wake up thinking. I was always taught:
2 Thessalonians 3:10–13 ESV
For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.
2 Thessalonians
Many of us can ramble off the 10 commandments, but how many of us practice them. We don’t murder, steal, lie, we worship God.
But what about
Exodus 20:8–11 ESV
“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. 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.
The Sabbath is more than a model laid out by God, it’s a command and to not follow God’s commands is to not love him.
My dad was a work-a-holic and I have learned to wear a work-a-holic badge with pride. When people talk about being a work-a-holic I am learning it’s not a badge, but rather a warning. There is a warning of laziness. 6 Days we are not to be lazy, but we need to understand that a Sabbath is not a day off, but a day of rest. I have seen people utilize the Sabbath in an unhealthy manor in either not having one or obeying rules rather than relationship. I have seen Jewish people who would not press an elevator button because they are on the Sabbath, but what benefit does this have the soul.
My dad was a work-a-holic and I have learned to wear a work-a-holic badge with pride. When people talk about being a work-a-holic I am learning it’s not a badge, but rather a warning. There is a warning of laziness. 6 Days we are not to be lazy, but we need to understand that a Sabbath is not a day off, but a day of rest. I have seen people utilize the Sabbath in an unhealthy manor in either not having one or obeying rules rather than relationship. I have seen Jewish people who would not press an elevator button because they are on the Sabbath, but what benefit does this have the soul.
I posed this question on facebook in some minister groups I am apart of to see their input. A true Sabbath isn’t something they teach in school or in many churches. I was honestly saddened and convicted by the responses because my answers often reflected most of theirs. A Sabbath is a day to do nothing-to rest. Play video games, watch a movie, read a random book, cut grass, do some menial house hold chores, but a true Sabbath contains none of these.
So what is a modern day Sabbath?
A day of rest
Or a day away from ordinary work. As I contemplate what a Sabbath day would be for me it would be in part turning my cell phone off. Even on my day off I find myself sending emails, doing research, sending texts, aligning people to give me quotes.
It would be a day without TV. You cannot focus on God and family if your focus is on the world.
It would’t be a day void from work- cooking, minor cleaning, and such.
2. It would be purposeful
When we don’t purposefully do something it usually doesn’t get done. A day of rest could potentially have a nap, but isn’t a day set in bed. It’s a time to focus on the true gifts God has given us. Our family. Our relationship with him. It’s a time of communication and prayer.
3. It’s trust
In order to take a Sabbath I have to trust that God will bless my work the other 6 days. I believe one reason we don’t take Sabbath’s is because we don’t trust that God can sustain us in 6 days. So we work harder, longer, and risk our family, our faith and our health.
When God told Israel to let the land rest every 7 years he didn’t tell them not to reap a harvest. He told them not to plant. The could reap what sprang up naturally not for profit, but for personal care. What God provided for them. It was a trust in God.
Leviticus 25:4–7 ESV
but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food.
Leviticus 25:4–5 ESV
but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.
Leviticus 25
Leviticus 25:
It was a time of trusting in God. Letting the land rest. Taking care of of Earth.
4. It’s setting aside our pride
Neglecting the Sabbath is a declaration that the world will not go on without your involvement. To believe that is to believe you are greater than God for God rested to show us that even in his rest he can still handle the world. The Earth will not stop spinning if you take a day off. Your company will not fail if you take a day off. Your TV will not blow up. Your cell phone will still accept voicemails. And those who try to reach you will still be there tomorrow.
5. It’s taking care of You
Mark 2:
Mark 2:27 ESV
And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
We weren’t made to be lazy, but rather the Sabbath was set to ensure we take care of our mind, our body, our spirit, and our family. It was a time to restore our soul. To exercise our body. To enrich our mind, and to play with our family.
This isn’t something I have done or even tried. I too struggle with the Sabbath, but it’s something God has put on my shoulders. I hope over the next several weeks. The more we discuover about the Sabbath the more we realize we need it.
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