The Big Ten #4

Today we look at the fourth command on how God wants us to view and relate with Him:

 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

So, what's the big deal about the Sabbath? Simply put, if we don't make time for God, we won't spend time with God.  God always takes instructions on the Sabbath back to the creation of man. God did not rest because He was tired, but he knows we will be. God made us in His image, and when he was done for the week, he stepped back to view what He had made; we need time to do the same. God made the Sabbath for fellowship with Him and one another; He made us not just to produce, but to share the goodness of His creation with others. Like anything God commands, men have a way of twisting the Sabbath and pushing it to extremes, like the Pharisees did, but more of us are far more guilty of neglecting God's Sabbath and His reasons for it.