Sabbath Keeping

Do we remember the Sabbath day? In the midst of tasks undone, schedules to keep, people we’ve meant to see, and of course work to be done, where do we have time?

Family obligations, church obligations, financial obligations, raising kids, making friends, taking care of the car, buying basic necessities, and, of course, what about that one last thing we’ve been meaning to do? It would be great to have an extra day to do that, wouldn’t it?

I know, I long for that extra day, but do I long for it as much as I long for the Lord? Have I caught on to God’s vision for my day to day? Do I even remember that the Sabbath day is holy?! Not just good and right, but holy?

Do I realize that God’s commandment for Sabbath applies to my whole life, not just me, but my wife (and, when I have children, to them as well)? Really it’s even meant for my community: meant for the animals in my care, the strangers in my midst, the visitors to my home. Sabbath is meant to be an expression of Christian grace to my local community, in my local context. The Sabbath day is highly personal and highly intrusive. It is holy.

It is meant to bring us closer to our Lord Jesus Christ. It is meant to be that well-spring of water in the midst of our spiritual wilderness. It is meant to be tasted and tried and found good. It is meant for man, and it is also meant for good. We are not to neglect the good things that the Lord has given us, but we are very much to stop from our day-to-day busyness, our tasks, and the contemplation of our earthly riches.

It is meant to draw us to the Lord, and to matters of His heart, not ours. It is meant for our reflection on our earthly relationships, our relationship to the broader Creation, and our relationship to our Lord Jesus Christ. It is meant to be spent with others (though sometimes spending it on our own is good, too) and in the abundant world that the Lord has provided for us. So take a Sunday, if you’re a minister a Monday, and spend time with your family, with creation, and in fact all that is entrusted to you.

Let us Sabbath together before the Lord.