Sunday, October 6, 2013

The Sabbath


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Last week at Life Group while studying about Moses, God and the Ten Commandments, as we were discussing:
Exodus 20:8  KJV    8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
One of our members, John, said “God didn’t create man for the Sabbath but He created the Sabbath for man.”

God didn’t make rules to control us or to make us obedient, he made rules to make our lives better.

Being human, we don’t always understand that concept – then we have children and we realize only with discipline can we raise our children to be the responsible adults we want them to be and it is also proof of our love for them.

Can you imagine a life with no rules. Everyone doing their own thing, killing, lying, cheating – just to name a few of the “big” ones. Depending on our age - as adults it often seems as if we live in a world with no rules but think how bad it would be if we really didn’t have these rules.  As children or teens we believe our whole world is rules, rules, rules.

God loved us enough – even though we separated ourselves from Him through sin – to give us guidelines to live by.

In Exodus God gave us four commandments that are beneficial in our relationship with Him. Then He gave us six commandments that are beneficial in our relationship with others.

A Short List of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20
  1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
  2. You shall not make or worship idols.
  3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
  4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
  5. Honor your father and your mother.
  6. You shall not murder.
  7. You shall not commit adultery.
  8. You shall not steal.
  9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
  10. You shall not covet.
Back to number 4 – Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. It’s listed in the top four of the commands God gave us. But we often live such busy lives that we just don’t have time to rest.

And yet, there it is. Right there with don’t murder, don’t steal – most of us would NEVER consider living opposite of these commands. Yet – keeping the Sabbath day holy?  I know this is a command I break often.

How about you? Do you find this an easy command?

How do you keep the Sabbath day holy?


God made rules as a gift to us, to make our lives better.

Our obedience of these rules is our gift to Him.




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