Sunday

A Month of Sundays

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 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 2:3 ESV

Keeping up with our grandmother’s brisk pace was indeed a daunting task and “At this rate we won’t get there in a month of Sundays” was something that she loved to say, whenever was one of us was dawdling along, behind. Yet keeping up with Grandmother, was nothing in comparison with keeping up with the Almighty. Imagine for a moment, the speed of the six days of creation. They were like God going out for a walk around the universe at a break-neck rate. God created, light and darkness, planets and constellations, oceans, and continents, and that was just the first two days!

As God continued, projects, seemed to fly off His workbench, each one greater than the one before. Then on day six, God paused, stooped down to scoop up some clay, and He formed man with His own hands and in His own image. Finally, God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, and He named Him Adam. But as God watched Adam, for the first time God noticed something that was not good. Adam was alone. So, God caused Adam to sleep, and it was while he was resting, that God took a rib to create Eve as his companion. Then on the seventh day, God Himself rested. After six fast and furious days, I believe that God slowed His pace, so that His children could catch up to Him. Walking at a speed that would take a month of Sundays to go around the garden of Eden was not a problem for God. In fact, God loved that seventh day so much that the Bible tells us that He gave it a special blessing and called it Holy! If it delighted God to slow His pace to walk with us, why are we always in such a hurry? Maybe a month of Sundays in our life might be just what pleases Him most!

The Sabbath Rest For Healing

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And a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” Matthew 12:10

Call me old fashioned, but I hate to shop on Sundays! On the rare occasions when we do go out to a store for something vital, I am saddened to see that now it looks to be the busiest shopping day of the week. Of course, we weren’t any holier back in the day when almost everything was shut down on Sunday, but it gave us a taste of something that I believe the Lord meant for it to be. In this 21st century world of rushing about, 365 days a year, it is more important than ever to remember that what some of us still call, “The Lord’s Day”, remains a wonderful though overlooked blessing. There are a variety of opinions on the matter, but I believe that understanding how we can keep the Sabbath, begins by seeing how Jesus acted on that day. One thing we find over and over in the gospels is that He took special delight in choosing it for healing. This usually got Him in trouble with the Pharisees and in today’s verse, when they heatedly argued with Him about it, Jesus responded by saying –

“It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” Matthew 12:12.  

In other words, God didn’t mean for the day of rest to simply be a day for ceasing all activity. We see that for Jesus, the Sabbath was a day for miraculous restoration. At the finish of creation, God’s assessment of His work was,

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good…” Genesis 1:31 

But when we look around our world, even the rosiest of the rosiest views, is that not all is good any longer. In fact, there is incredible pain, suffering, sin and loss. The breath of life that God once breathed into Adam’s nostrils seems to have been replaced by an evil wind of warfare and hatred that is sweeping across our world. The good news is that Jesus came to give us the healing breath of life again. But for us to experience God’s Sabbath healing, we must learn to rest as Jesus did. After all, He brought more healing to a Samaritan woman’s heart and ultimately to her village when He rested by a well, than His disciples did while busily going into town to buy food. God has given us His special day, whether the world remembers that it is special or not. Now He waits to see if we will use it just for ourselves, or to share the living water of His healing with the people who are all around us who desperately need the rest that only God can give.

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