Sabbath Rest Even Today

October 05, 2018 | By Chuck

"Remember the Sabbath day, to 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. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy"(Exodus 20:8-11). This is the fourth of the ten commandments that God gave to Moses for the nation of Israel. I believe this Sabbath day commandment was for the Jews and not us. I also believe there is a principle from that commandment that we could benefit from today. Harding's annual lectureship was this past Sunday through Wednesday evening. I attended some great classes on Tuesday and Wednesday but purposefully didn't attend at all on Monday. The first Tuesday of each month I usually attend a preacher's luncheon. I don't attend the preacher's meeting that gathers on Mondays. I share this with you not to show my rebellious side but to drive home the point that everyone needs a day off and rest. Monday is my day off. Unless there's an emergency or bad weather I can be found on the golf course on Mondays. That's where we today can and should apply the Old Testament Sabbath day principle. God worked and created everything in six days and rested on the seventh day. Interestingly even God rested. The Sabbath day commandment was created for the people, so that they would take a day off from their work and rest. If God rested from His work of creation and commanded the Israelites a day to rest, don't you think we should rest too? If it's Saturday, Sunday, Monday or whatever your day off is, I hope you'll take time rest. God obviously saw the importance of rest and I think we'll benefit from doing the same.