Sabbath

It’s a Beautiful Morning —

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I have always believed we still need to remember the commandment to remember the Sabbath even in this age of grace. The Sabbath is included in the law but its origins begin on the first week of creation and are a wonderful way to honor God.  I have enjoyed Carole’s posts for a few years and especially loved her perspective on the Sabbath preparing us for the new day. I pray you would also be blessed.

 

I haven’t met many mornings that I didn’t immediately love. I love the excitement of the sun rising, of a fresh new day (with no mistakes in it, as Anne of Green Gables would say), the fresh energy that courses through my body and the reminder of

 

walking with God in the very beginning. In […]

via It’s a Beautiful Morning — itsawonderfilledlife

On the 2nd Day He Rested

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From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised  Matthew 16:21 ESV

We all know what happened on that first day, that terrible and blessed day on the cross. On the third day it is very clear that Jesus rose from the dead. But in spite of many ideas and even elaborate tales no one truly knows just what occurred on Holy Saturday. So can we ask the question, “What if Jesus simply rested? What if when Jesus said, “It is finished!” and gave His spirit into his father’s hands He just rested without sorrow, suffering or demands of any kind for that day. What if after three and a half years of ministry in which it was said that he had nowhere to lay his head and scarcely time to eat; that Jesus chose to rest in His Father’s ability to do all that needed to be done for the day.

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What if Jesus rested because it was the Sabbath? What if like a field rests in Winter waiting for Spring rains He lay quietly just as on the day in which the creation of the heavens was completed? Perhaps Jesus just paused to see everything that was good in the new creation now begun. What if there are times in our own lives when there is nothing more holy to do than nothing? What if on this Holy Saturday we could quietly reflect and rest in the completed work of Jesus Christ. What would our lives be like if for even one day we simply trusted God to do all?

Enjoying the Sabbath

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In Mark’s Gospel Jesus pointed out that the opposition he was facing over what He was doing on the Sabbath was from a basic misunderstanding of the command to rest on the seventh day. The Pharisees were acting as if the 4th commandment began when Moses received it on the mountain. But in reality the concept of Sabbath was woven into the very fabric of God’s creation. Genesis tells us that on the seventh day God rested (P.S. he wasn’t tired!). 

Here was God at the end of His creation process, creating one more thing as a gift for man. He created a day to rest together with Adam and Eve. Maybe Adam and Eve just walked through the garden in delighted wonderment saying things like, “Wow that waterfall is amazing God!” or “That giraffe has the longest neck I’ve ever seen!”. God wasn’t interested in their doing something to impress Him. He simply wanted to share that day with them. Later on maybe they sat down by a brook and kicked their feet in the cool water, then lay down on the soft grassy bank and took a nap and there was God right beside them, resting and blessing that first Sabbath day.

When was the last time any of us really took time to receive the gift of Sabbath that God made for us? Does that mean we should just sit around the house afraid to go out? Not at all! In fact Jesus constantly got into trouble by going around helping people on the Sabbath. It was His way of sharing His day with God. Why do we allow the worries of life or the expectations of other people rob from us that joy? We are each unique and in our own way why not celebrate a Sabbath as God intended and simply delight in sharing one day entirely with Him?