Scripture for today

So in my effort to hold myself accountable, I'm going to start posting at least some of what I feel led to pay attention to in the course of going through the Word. Right now I'm in the book of Matthew.

Matthew 12:6-8

"I tell you, something greater that the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."

Once again, the basic theme of the Bible: God wants us to love Him above anything or anyone else. It is greatest commandment, after all. God set down the Sabbath so that His people would put their work down and spend time enjoying Him, rejoicing in Him and taking advantage of what He had blessed them with in order that they might grow more deeply as a community that sought God together, and that they might not forget that He wants to bring them true joy.

However, by the time of Christ the Sabbath had become a day of obligation, full of rules and laws set down by different religious leaders that placed what Christ called in Luke 11 "burdens hard to bear" on God's people. There was no rejoicing, but rather as in everything else it was entirely focused on outward actions with no thought given to the state of the heart.

I have to deal with the same problems today. I swing back and forth between wanting to make it a day full of obligation and work, devoting time to a million things that I think will glorify God, and on the other end I want to spend the whole day just lounging around doing nothing. I want to come out of my Sabbath feeling rested, and feeling closer to God, full of praise and ready to take the next steps on my walk with Christ. That means different things all the time--and sometimes it means my Sabbath isn't always Sunday, but it's a day God has set out for me to spend time away from work and regular life to just relax in His love, and to spend time with those who bring me closer to my community of believers and stir my affections for Him the most. Yes, that's somewhat vague, but the Scriptures don't contain step by step instructions for every moment of a God-honoring Sabbath; it's something I seek out in prayer and praise. I want a heart that craves Him more today than it did yesterday, and on the Sabbath I have a chance to be reminded that striving after God is not work for the sake of work, but is rather about a new kind of joy.