I have struggled all of my life to honor one of God’s commandments. It is the commandment regarding the Sabbath.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” — Exodus 20:8-11

I am too busy during the week to get everything done that I need to do and so Sunday is kind of a catch up day. I have always thought that God would understand. I am not sure He does understand. I am not sure He needs to understand. I think I may need to change the way I do things. I need to become diligent in pursuing Him in every way that He requests, if that means I take a day off of work then I will do so.

Last weekend I made a concerted effort to get all of my work done so that I could rest and worship on Sunday. I went to church and then worked on the Bible studies I am involved in. It was a very intense and purposeful day for me. You wouldn’t think that rest would be so intense right?

It does take concentration and diligence to avoid work that is poking you in the ribs and saying “Hey you! There are crumbs on your kitchen counter and you really need to mop the floor again, don’t you think?” Then it goes on to say.”When are you ever going to get your jewelry organized and you know that garage has not been cleaned out since Spring.”

In a way observing the Sabbath in the way that God intended is so important if for one reason and one reason only. It forces you to focus on what is eternal in life and not temporal.

I have observed the Sabbath last weekend on Sunday and in research for this post I realized that I was supposed to observe the Sabbath on Saturday. Well, now, I am going to have to get all things done by Friday evening then because I really like spending Saturday evening at church and then turn around and go to another church on Sunday. I know God doesn’t require two days out of the week but I haven’t even given Him one day for most of my life so I figure I have some catching up to do.