Mark 2:27-28
“Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.””
Mark 2:27-28 NIV
When God had finished His six days of creation, He rested on the seventh day. However, due to man's sin, God had to begin another work, the work of redemption, which is the work that will one day be fully and finally completed when Christ is all in all.
Today, we are slaves to our own hurried, busy, work. We think we work to hold everything together. We think we work to make it all happen. We even try to work for our spiritual salvation. But like the Israelites under the crushing fist of the Egyptians, we are enslaved. Unlike the Israelites, we don't see it because we are so hurried, stressed, and rushed that we are blind.
We think our day starts when we wake up, have a couple of cups of coffee, and get started, but God created the day and the mercies in it long before we did anything. We believe that if we work hard enough, we'll find God in our day, but we won't see God in our day until we stop working long enough to see God's work.
“The Sabbath," writes Alan Fadling, " is God's antidote for our hurried, harried pace of life, and gives us the unhurried one in seven rhythm woven into the very fabric of creation" (An Unhurried Life, of 112). Our hurried, busy, try to be in control lives enslaved us. The rules we created for the Sabbath made it worse. Only when we stop to see that Jesus is the Lord, working and in charge, will we see God for who He is and worship Him. Jesus is the point of the Sabbath.
Now, lest we misunderstand this kingdom principle, I should clarify that Jesus was talking about true needs. I fear we sometimes err on the other side of spiritual rest by filling our lives with so many activities we don’t have time to worship God. When we continually put other priorities in front of worshipping God, we are indeed breaking the principle of the Sabbath. We are crowding out the Lord.
So, on one hand, we should make worship and spiritual reflection a part of our lives. We should take time to worship with others, as the Bible tells believers not to neglect meeting together. But on the other hand, we must remember that Sabbath rest which for the Christian is defined as our journey with God as we are clothed with His grace, cannot be regulated. It is a heart issue, a hunger and thirst for the One who loved us and saved us through His Son Jesus.
Maybe if we get this straight in our minds our misplaced Sabbath won’t necessarily leave us feeling guilty, but rather empty. Why would we not want to fill up our lives with the One who gave His life for us? Jesus Christ is our Sabbath rest. He fulfilled the Old Testament type.
We, as believers, rest totally and completely in Him. We have regained in Christ far more than we lost in the garden of Eden. Every debt we owe is paid and we are totally free. We live in the year of Jubilee. We have entered into the true Sabbath rest in Christ!!!
Father thank You for this day and that we are not bound by religious laws and legalistic practices, but have been made a new creation in Christ. Lord let the storehouses of Your abundant blessings pour out over my friend and family today. Lord thank You for being our Sabbath rest, not only during our sojourn on earth, but in the eternal ages to come. Lord than You that In You we find true rest and refreshment as we abide in Him and He in us. Lord may we worship You in spirit and truth every day of the week, and may we take every opportunity to meet with other believers as we worship You together and enjoy Christian fellowship in our Churches and Chapels. Lord use my friend to be a bold witness of Your Gospel to all today. Daddy we love You amen. Be a blessing. Love ya !!
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