The Sabbath

12/12- 10 Commandments 4- remember the Sabbath Day

Read: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.  Six days you shall work, but on the seventh you shall rest.” “God allows us to enter His Sabbath rest because He came.”  (Heb. 4).

Thoughts: The Bible indicates work and play are good.  God calls us to work and to play.  We are to work for six days.  But we need to leave room for rest and worship.  God calls us away to take a breather to refresh our bodies, our minds, and our souls.  The Bible picks one day for everyone so we can rest together and not encourage each other to work.  For Christians, the Sabbath is called “The Lord’s Day” because it is the day Jesus rose from the dead- Sunday.  We need to leave room for refreshment.  Just as the body gets dehydrated without water, so the soul gets dried up without rest and worship.  If we believe work and play is important, we also need to believe rest and worship is important.  When so many others are playing instead of worshiping; or working instead of resting this is a reminder from God we are to be different from everyone else.  Perhaps more than any other commandment, this commandment invites us to show our friends we believe and our belief effects our what we do. 

Activity: Prepare the family to really take a day off Sunday.  Worship comes first.  No one plays sports today.  Leave room for doing something to help someone in need- maybe writing a letter to a relative or a friend; or visiting a neighbor who is sick;  Leave room on the Sabbath for deeds of love and mercy.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for rest.  Thank you that you came that we might have peace and rest.