The Sabbath is a very big deal to God. It’s listed in the top 10 commandments of how he wants us to live. In the Old Testament he often brings up the Sabbath and how it has been defiled, even when they are kinda going through the motions. It boils down to the fact that the people were doing things he didn’t call them to and not doing the things he did call them to. They lived like they knew better than God what to do with their lives and their days.
Is Observing The Sabbath Another Rule To Follow?
Does that mean they broke rules? Not really. It means they didn’t trust God or that he knew best for them and they tried to obey for their own sake and not truly loving God and trusting His plan for our lives. The Sabbath is a special provision by a loving God not a restriction by a mean God. The Sabbath is what sets God’s people apart from all the other cultures and religions. It is rest, but it is mostly a lifestyle of trust, love, and respect to God, to show the world a different way.
When Jesus came on the scene, the Sabbath was used by the religious leaders to burden and judge people, rather than teach them the lifestyle of someone who trusts and loves God. For this reason Jesus purposely did a lot of “works” on the Sabbath. He wanted to challenge their understanding of the Sabbath.
Remembering The Sabbath And Keeping It Holy
Remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy, is evidence that God worshipers live differently than the world and trust that God is faithful and provides, even (maybe especially) when we set time aside to be different and remember and acknowledge God.
Mark 2:27 Then he(Jesus) told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. 28 So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Jesus is Lord of our life and everyday. We were made for God and the Sabbath for us. Not for us to live our best lives for us, but for us to remember who gave us life in the first place, and live for Him.
Sabbath is a Lifestyle Not a Day
It is common in our culture to make the Sabbath about us. A day to be lazy because we feel half dead from the week. Or we pack all the fun we can possibly cram into a day to make up for a week of no fun. Both of those extremes send the wrong message and not the Sabbath God intended. The lazy Sabbath says I have to work so hard for 6 days that I’m dead on the 7th. That says God is hands off and it’s up to us to keep the world spinning except for one day and he takes over for a day. Then the frantic fun day is that we are allowed one day to pack in the fun we didn’t have all week, and we need the Lord’s Day to be fun for all and all for fun.
This doesn’t make Christians look different from the world, it makes us look starved for rest and good times.
Trusting God’s Design
It’s human nature to make everything and everyday about me. We seem to keep trying to find ways around making our lives, and all our days about God. We don’t trust his design for our bodies our resources or our days.
Observing the Sabbath and keeping it holy is a lifestyle, not just a day of the week. It says I trust God all week and he gives me a day of rest because He is good and trustworthy everyday.
