A Place to Rest

If Sabbath keeping is only about what we do on Sunday, then I am in serious trouble.  At the end of this journey the heavenly ledger is surely going to report that I have done a lot of work on Sunday which is, of course, regarded by the majority of the Christian community as the Sabbath Day.  Maybe preachers get a Golden Gate Exemption, but I doubt it.  The preacher's only hope may be the "One in Seven Rule," but mostly it is going to be about mercy.  While some preachers may hardly work, others work too much. 

 

If we read carefully that verse from the Ten Commandments, we hear a Word about Sabbath and work. "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work.  But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord Your God; you shall not do any work."  (Exodus 20:8-10.  Instead of a rendering which speaks of a specific day, the commandment can be interpreted as a pointer to a lifestyle of no work on one of the seven.  From what are we to abstain on Sabbath?  Work.  And what is work?  Work is that part of our life upon which we depend to sustain our life and the lives of our family?  One day a week the Word calls us to live our life in such a way that our living does not depend our ability to provide, but instead, gives expression to the reality that God truly is the provider for all that touches, blesses us, and sustains us.

When we come to such a place of realizing Who God is and who we are in all these earthly pursuits of ours, we are likely to come to a place of balance that causes us to worship and enables us to live with a real spirit of gratitude.  And, as we consider the issues of balance and gratitude, we come to a place of understanding what it means to experience Sabbath and share in its blessings.  Such an awareness may not be the final word on Sabbath keeping, but it is a place to start and rest on the journey.