Well, Father, this has been a year for inclement weather and schools are taking a hit for sure! So here I sit at the beginning of another snow day! A free day from routine but a day I dare not waste. Enable me to be wise with the use of the time given me. I would ask for your direction this day. Amen.
Mark 2:23-28 (<<click to read the passage)
Observing the Sabbath – what does it mean?
It is one of the 10 Commandments found in Exodus 20:8-11. The first line is, “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy”.
When I was younger, I remember we were much more strict in what we did or didn’t do on Sunday (the day many Christians observe the Sabbath). Restaurants weren’t open –for that matter pretty much nothing was open. We would go home after church, have probably one of the nicest meals of the week, take it easy throughout much of the afternoon and finish off the day with an evening worship service. Those were simpler times for sure.
So…yesterday was the Sabbath. What did it entail for us? Of course, we had two great times of worship. We then headed home, changed clothes, picked up Karen’s parents and headed out for lunch to celebrate her birthday. We enjoyed a very nice meal with a very mindful server. Then we headed over to the home of some family and enjoyed a visit of love and encouragement with them before heading home on snowy, slippery roads!
Did we keep the Sabbath holy? I believe so. We spent two hours in corporate worship, which entailed interacting with and loving the wonderful people of our churches. We spent a good part of our day with dearly loved family members – giving of ourselves in love to them all, as they did for us. We showed love and consideration for our server at the restaurant as she took care of us and we tipped her well for her diligence in making sure we were well taken care of.
I would say that our trip home was holy as well. All four of us prayed for safety all the way home. We could easily have ended up in a ditch, or a tree or in a collision. The roads were treacherous, to say the least. But we all trusted that God would see us through and He surely did and enabled me to get us safely home.
We lived out our call to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” and to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31) What better track to holiness than that?
“The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27
Feb 11th, 2019, Mon, 7:22 am
