Friday, April 27, 2007

Missiome's Blurred Edge


I've really been taken by the way Missiome talks about the occasional times his Church is

...effectively...closed down for the day and we're encouraged to 'get out there' and make relationships with our friends.

...hmmnn...something to think about.

Sometimes I wonder about the way my tribe approaches Sundays, often the busiest day of my week.

I've been made to think even harder when I read some of the teaching espoused at ROCKHARBOR.

Sabbath is a weekly day of rest in which we cease from our weekly tasks and pressures in order to rest and be refilled. In fact, the term Sabbath comes from the Hebrew term shabbat, which means “to cease or rest.” Exodus 20:11 states “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.” God felt so strongly about the need for a weekly day of rest that He called all of Israel to observe a Sabbath rest once a week.

On the Sabbath, we’re called not only to cease from working, but also to empty ourselves of our need to accomplish, produce, and worry about our lives for one day so that we can be refreshed and refilled. It’s a day for us to stop working towards becoming and simply focus on being. One great benefit of Sabbath keeping is that we learn to let God take care of us – not by becoming passive and lazy, but by giving up our feeble attempts to control our own lives and simply resting in His provision.

3 comments:

weareallghosts said...

let's see what we can do about this when we meet up in june

Eric Bryant said...

Appreciate your posts!

Duncan said...

John, good point and one I'm trying to remind myself of again. It's critical we take a day off what we're normally doing, God gave us that command for a reason. I think often we get attacked by busyness! I'm finding that even fellow church members don't understand why sometimes I say no, that's a day off for me....hard to say no, especially when it's something good.