Season 1 Wrap Up and Sabbatical Post
To quote most of the angels in the Bible: do not fear! Next month we will be launching a new Monday blog series — this one designed for all the storytellers out there (no matter what medium you use!) — and are already getting some ideas going for ECC, Season 2. And, as always, SALT will continue to roll on with the reviews on Friday!
Thank you all again, so much for the wonderful feedback and encouragement that you have given me. See you all in September!
Use the Sabbath to Worship God
“…casting all your anxieties on Him, for He cares for you…” - 1 Peter 5:7
We are often busy throughout the week with work and the various chores of life. We may only have ten or fifteen minutes to spend fully focused on God each morning or evening as we are coordinating our lives. The Sabbath, however, gives us a brilliant opportunity to give God more of our attention.
Rest Comes with Discipline
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” - Hebrews 12:11
Rest is like any other aspect of faith: it requires discipline, self-control, and trust in God Our Father. In requires us to be disciplined to set aside time for rest. Then we have to use that discipline to guard it viciously, so that we can properly follow God’s commandment about the Sabbath.
God’s Old Testament Instructions for the Sabbath
“Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.” - Exodus 34:21
God established the Sabbath by taking a day to rest Himself, however, as He rescue the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt, He incorporated the same rest into His instructions for them. First in the Ten Commandments, then to the rest of the Levitical laws with the same premise: for six days you work, for one day you do absolutely no work whatsoever.
God Rested on the 7th Day and Made it Holy
“By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested…then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy…” Genesis 2:2-3.
Why did God rest? The Bible isn’t overtly clear about this, but it does fit in with something that God does do an awful lot: give us an example to follow.