day

I’m working

/ EllieJ

Jesus took a lot of flack for the things that he did on the Sabbath day. Those that would seek to destroy him looked for any and every opportunity to see him come to ruin. It is interesting to think how often Jesus was “caught in the act” by the Pharisees. How did they know what he was up to unless they were following him? If Jesus told a man to get up and pick up his mat because he’d been healed, that was considered work? If getting up was considered work, getting dressed was surely work and we don’t read stories of the Pharisees walking around naked on the Sabbath.

It is true that God rested on the seventh day after spending six days creating the universe. He also instituted the Sabbath as a day of rest and reflection on Him. Work was to be set aside and the focus of the people was to be on God. The Pharisees, for all their not working, certainly set their focus on something—someone—else.

Let’s work this out, shall we? God created the Sabbath—a day of rest. Jesus is God. Jesus created the Sabbath. Jesus was sent to walk the earth. Jesus did stuff on the Sabbath. Jesus never went against God’s word. So was what Jesus did on the Sabbath to be considered work or not?

Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”

John 5:17 (NIV)

Well, how does Jesus get around this then? He’s working on a day where no one self-respecting Jew is supposed to work!

God rested on the seventh day from His work of Creation. But Jesus pointed to the continuous work of God as justification for His Sabbath activity. God sustains the universe, begets life, and visits judgments. It is not wrong for His Son to do works of grace and mercy on the Sabbath.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary

Just because God rested on the seventh day didn’t mean that His work stopped. God is always working on our behalf, even Sundays (or Saturdays, depending on which day you recognise as the Sabbath). Despite what religious leaders may think, God’s work cannot be put on pause or stopped. Because God’s work is never truly done, Jesus’ work was never done. No matter what we need or when we need it, God is ready and able to fulfill our needs, uninterrupted and without fail. A day of the week can’t stop Him if He’s working.

Read: 2 Kings 9-11, John 5:1-24

The seventh day

/ EllieJ

Read: Exodus 31-33, Matthew 22:23-46

When you think of something as being holy, what comes to mind? A certain place? The empty tomb. Jerusalem. A church or temple. A specific thing? The Bible. Communion elements—bread and wine. The ark of the covenant. Things that are holy usually generate a picture in our minds. But the very first thing that God set aside as holy was neither a place nor a thing.

And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Genesis 2:3 (NIV)

According to our religious way of thinking, once God had completed creation, we would expect that He would create a dwelling for Himself, a holy sanctuary where He could reside. But He didn’t. No such thing was made.

Things are only temporary. Out of sight, out of mind. Had God set aside a place or a thing, it could (and probably would) be easily forgotten. Instead, He set aside time, a regular occurrence at which point humanity was to set aside all else so that our focus could be on our Creator alone.

Exodus 31:13

We can set aside places and things to be considered holy, but unless we actually take time, God will not be glorified or worshiped. Even though western Christian tradition sets aside Sunday—the first day of the week—as the Sabbath. I don’t believe God is so concerned with which day or time we set aside as He is with the fact that we actually take the time to turn our focus off of everything but Him.

Our holiness is entirely dependent on God’s holiness. And we cannot be made holy if we do not know the One who makes us holy. Whether you take the first day, the seventh day, or the fourth day, take a day. Consider it holy. Don’t just abstain from work, but use that time to pursue God. Let it continue to stand as a reminder for the generations to come that He is the Lord, who makes us holy.

No earthly good

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On that day the sources of light will no longer shine, yet there will be continuous day! Only the Lord knows how this could happen!

Zechariah 16:6-7a (NLT)

And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord—his name alone will be worshipped.

Zechariah 14:9 (NLT)

And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.

Revelation 21:23 (NLT)

He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever.

Revelation 21:4 (NLT)

As Christians, we should all long for the day when the Lord returns and evil is banished from this world forever. We will live in the glorious eternal light of the Lamb and can be confident in this if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Our names have been written in his Book of Life. But, as wonderful as that day will be, it cannot be our only focus.

There is a saying of those whose focus is not on this world: they are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good. These people spend all of their time looking at the end and have lost touch with the present.

I can’t wait for the day when all of us saints will join with the angels around the throne singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” But that day is not today and, until that day comes, I have a job to do. We all have a job to do and it may not—and probably won’t be—all sunshine and roses.

I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure, just as gold and silver are refined and purified by fire. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘There are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’

Zechariah 13:9 (NLT)

The days of glory will not come before the days of fire and refinement. Things are going to get a lot more uncomfortable before we are able to walk through the pearl gates and onto the streets of gold. If our only focus is the end, we will miss out entirely on the process. If you’re still here, God is not done with you. And if God is not done with you, your main focus should be the job at hand so that you can earn your reward at the end.

It’s okay to be heavenly minded, but you still have to be good for something while you’re still on earth.

Daily Bible reading: Zechariah 13-14, Revelation 21

Signs

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The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from its place in front of the people.

Exodus 13:21-22 (NLT)

I’m going to be organised today and pull this one apart point by point. There is so much in these two verses we can learn from:

  1. The Lord went ahead of them. Not beside or behind. Ahead. God was in the lead. Israel followed. God isn’t on a leash to be taken out for a walk when we feel He needs to come out to play. He’s not there for us to drag along as a reluctant participant. He’s there to lead. We’re here to follow.
  2. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. We often make the incorrect assumption that God will only call us to move when conditions are optimal. I wouldn’t call travelling at night the best time to travel—especially not how the Israelites were doing it with young and old, wagons and flocks. Can you imaging trying to move not only a million plus people, but all the animals and goods that went with them? The optimal time to move is when God says so.
  3. If you don’t see a sign, maybe you should stay where you are. Now, this isn’t taken directly from this passage, but it speaks from it nonetheless. If you know that God has led you to a certain place and suddenly the sign disappears, maybe it’s time to stick it out where you are for a while. Don’t immediately rush out looking for the next sign. Perhaps God needs you to grow and learn for a season rather than move on to the next one right away.

Daily Bible reading: Exodus 13-15, Matthew 19:1-15

Purpose

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Most days, I go through life as though I have no real purpose. I get through each day. I work. I watch the baseball or football game. I read a book. I go to bed. I get up and do it all over again and again. What did I accomplish aside from appeasing a few clients and my insatiable appetite for the CFL?

I will cry out to God Most High,
to God who fulfils his purpose for me.

Psalm 57:2 (ESV)

Not only does God have a purpose and a plan for me beyond work and my favourite sports teams, He wants to fulfil it. And He will. If I allow Him to. If I act as though I have a purpose. His purpose.

Daily Bible reading: Psalm 56-58; Acts 28:1-15

Night is coming

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For most of us, the voice of Jon Snow is in our heads telling us that winter is coming. In a way, it is. That is if we, the Church, don’t stop it.

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

John 9:4-5 (ESV)

Can anyone work in the dark? This isn’t a philosophical question. Can you actually do your job in complete darkness? I can’t, off the top of my head, think of a single vocation that would require anyone to work in complete darkness. And any job that takes place at night or in dark places requires light. The more light the better.

Taking a very practical approach to what Jesus said regarding the coming of night, we need to get to work, Church! And we need light to do it. If Jesus is the light of the world and Jesus is in us, that means that we are the light of the world. That light seems to be dimming in many places. This Little Light of Mine isn’t sung as loudly as it used to be. In fact, many people filling the pews of churches have no idea that they are supposed to be a light in the darkness.

The principle is simple. Much like kinetic energy, once you get going, it’s easy to keep going. So long as we are doing the work God called us to do, the light keeps shining. It’s when the work dwindles that the light fades.

In the passage we read today in John 9, Jesus comes upon a blind man. The disciples, thinking as the rabbis were teaching at the time, assumed that the man or his parents had sinned resulting in the man’s affliction.

Jesus answered, “It was not this man’s sin or his parents’ sin that made him blind. This man was born blind to that God’s power could be shown in him.”

John 9:3 (NCV)

What would happen if the Church stopped trying to reason out why things happen and started doing what we were meant to do – show God’s glory and power? I imagine that our little lights would become glowing beacons lighting up the night pushing the power of darkness back. One miracle would lead to another miracle and soon it would snowball and the world wouldn’t be able to help but take notice. It’s difficult to ignore a spotlight in your eyes.

Let your light shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.

Daily Bible reading: 1 Chronicles 11-13; John 9:1-23

Night

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Believe that the night is as useful as the day.

~ Charles Spurgeon

God spoke light into being, but here, on Earth, darkness still remains. It was not that God’s light was not enough to overpower the darkness, but that He allowed the darkness to remain.

As the world turns in an endless cycle of light and dark, our lives do as well. We rejoice in the light and we mourn in the dark praying for the light to return. But what if, like the earth, God intends for us to also go through times of darkness. It is not that God creates the darkness, but, like Job, He allows us to experience it.

It is not what we do in the light that defines us, but how we come through the dark. Like Spurgeon, do we believe that the night, as miserable as it may be, can be as useful as the day?