My blogging buddy, Clayton Bell presented me with this awesome idea of a blogging crossover a couple of weeks back.
So, Clayton and I are both blogging about the sabbath today, and then we’ll be posting a video tomorrow of the two of us discussing how we sabbath. Part two of the discussion is posted on his blog, click here to check it out after reading part 1 which is below. Watch for the video discussion to be posted on both blogs tomorrow! Now, on to part one…
Confession: I break the ten commandments all the time.
In Exodus 20 (where the ten commandments are listed) verses 8-11 tell us to:
“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 manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 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.”
Something interesting about this commandment that’s always stuck out to me: It takes 4 verses to explain it. 4 verses to emphasize its importance to us. 4 verses to hammer it in. Most of the other commandments only take one verse. I think that’s because God knew goofs like me wouldn’t take this commandment seriously. So, He railed on it for a few…
Exodus 34:21 (another series of some of the commandments) says:
“Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.”
Crazy. Did you catch the LAST part of that? Translated for us today, it reads “even during the busiest season of life, you had better rest on the seventh day.”
I heard Rick Warren say it this way once: “if you want to make it in ministry–make time for daily renewal. Divert daily–withdraw weekly and abandon annually.” The problem is that most of the time our lives look more like this: run yourself ragged daily, work work work all week, and tell yourself that one 4 day vacation a year will fix it all…
When I break this commandment, I feel like a crummy photograph that’s overexposed and under developed. Ever read 2 Corinthians 4:16?
Are you taking a day off every week? God made the Sabbath for our benefit. If you are not taking a day off you are breaking one of the ten commandments. In fact, let’s stop calling it a day off and start calling it what it is: A SABBATH.
What do you think? Please share.
We need an agenda of less. Now, go read part two over at Clayton’s blog, if you dare…
