A Gift We Often Choose Not To Open

Have you ever watched how your child reacts to present-opening time for their birthday? I don’t know about you, but days and weeks before, our daughter is trying to find every way possible to try and get us to tell her what the present is. She just can’t WAIT. And then the day FINALLY comes. She can FINALLY open the present she’s been waiting for, dreaming of, and eagerly anticipating!

That, my friend, is what God has given to us EVERY WEEK with the Sabbath.

What if you had a gift for your child, all wrapped, spent tons of time preparing for, and you gave it to them, only for them to say, nah, I’m good. Thanks anyways! And they walk away.

That’s what we do if we don’t honor the Sabbath.

God, as Creator and sustainer of creation, has GIVEN us a day of rest, telling us don’t worry, I’ll uphold the world while you rest. Doesn’t every person dream of that? I once read, God didn’t rest out of exhaustion, but out of satisfaction. He looked back on what He created and said it was “good”. Do we even take time to look back on our week to say the same? Do we even observe a Sabbath to know the difference?

Often what we desire gets in the way of what God desires. The idols we create, act as a barrier to this very given day.

Instead of treating the Sabbath as another Saturday, what if we became AVAILABLE to our family and friends? What if we left the to-do list behind? What if we stopped ourselves from going on that website or in that store, stopped buying and selling, and just appreciated what we already have? What if we accepted the invitation God has given us, to be with Him? Fully? With nothing getting in the way?

Sports and work, the things we do the other 6 days a week, are knocking at the Sabbath’s door. Are you going to let them in? Don’t get me wrong, there are jobs that need to be done on Sunday. But let’s go back to God’s original intent for the Sabbath.

Exodus 20:8-11 says: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

It’s the longest of the commandments and God’s command is to set it apart.

How are we doing as a society? How is your family doing? How are YOU doing with it? What executive decisions need to be made to ensure this day remains holy? It’s not a suggestion. It’s a command.

Let’s live accordingly.