Sunday, December 29, 2013

More Rest on Sundays Since It's Not the Sabbath


Please forgive me if I've written about this previously, but I just cannot get over the irony. Simply put, now that I no longer view Sundays as the Sabbath I get more rest on Sundays.

For most of my life, as a kid and later as an adult, Sundays were busy. We got up, put on our "Sunday best," and "went to church." This included both Sunday School and Worship Service. Then we would usually do the same thing again at night, except this time we didn't have to dress up (not sure why). We were busy for God - or so we thought - on what we considered to be the Sabbath. On what we believed was God's ordained day of rest for us we kept busy all day.

I now realize that Jesus Christ is our Sabbath rest. How freeing this is! We are no longer under Old Covenant regulations and practices. Jesus fulfilled the law so we don't have to. He has also freed us from sin to live restfully in his great grace. Christ is our 24/7 Sabbath rest.

Now Sundays are actually restful. Sometimes we get together with friends, but sometimes we don't. We relax a lot. We don't dress up. We read. We take naps. We watch movies. We play games. Sometimes we stroll around Savannah's historic district or go to the beach. We don't worry about being busy for God. Because of this, we actually rest.

I thank the Lord that his rest is not limited to one day per week. Since the Sabbath never ends, we can truly rest in Christ at all times - even on Sundays.

6 comments:

Jeremy Myers said...

Funny insight.

I have often thought that the rules for keeping the Sabbath turn out to be a lot of work.

Eric said...

Jeremy,

Exactly!

I've often enjoyed listening to Christians try to explain how the O.T. Sabbath now applies to Sundays. The arguments they make are convoluted at best. Just plain silliness if you ask me! So sad that so many of our brothers and sisters are trapped by it.

Aussie John said...

Eric,

"So sad that so many of our brothers and sisters are trapped by it."

'TRAPPED'! Exactly!

I have a son-in-law who is a deacon, and who creates a great deal of unpleasantness because I cannot, in good conscience, agree with him on the matter.

Sadly, the subject is as closed to discussion,as the minds.

Eric said...

John,

Sometimes we just cannot talk to people because they won't listen. I'm not sure what they are afraid of - other than having to give up on some of their blessed traditions!

James said...

Kind of reminds me of Jesus - one of my favorite verses - They instruct correctly, but do wrongly...aye..

Matthew 23:1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.

Eric said...

James,

Religious leaders seem to be very tempted to twist teachings to meet their own desires/felt needs. Another obvious example of this is with the tithe. Yuck.