22nd Jan

rizz

New Member
Reading
[b said:
Quote[/b] ] Luke 14:1-6 (NRSV)
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, "Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?" But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. Then he said to them, "If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?" And they could not reply to this.

Devotional
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Jesus concluded, "The Sabbath was made for the good of human beings; they were not made for the Sabbath."
-Mark 2:27 (TEV)

RECENTLY some government leaders have advocated posting the Ten Commandments in public places. The news reports started me thinking about the commandments. Even though I had memorized them in Sunday school, I could no longer recite them. So I copied them onto the front page of my journal and read them every morning as part of my daily devotions.

The fourth commandment made me uncomfortable: "Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy" (Exod. 20:8). As a single person with a full-time job, I need both Saturday and Sunday to do my chores: housecleaning, yard work, grocery shopping, cooking, laundry. How could I give up Sunday chores?

I prayed daily and asked God to show me what to do. Scripture passages that spoke about the Sabbath brought into focus this message for me: On one day every week I should engage in no commerce -- no grocery shopping, no discount-store hopping, no bill paying. Instead, the day was to be for me, a day to allow God to restore my spirit. For three years now, I've set aside one day a week to tend to my spiritual needs. I am calmer and more hopeful, and I understand that the Sabbath was made for me.

Kathleen Newberg (North Carolina, U.S.A.)

Prayer
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Prayer
God, teach us how to observe the Sabbath that you may make us more holy. Amen.

Thought for the Day
Keeping a Sabbath makes room for God to restore us.

Prayer Focus

To keep a weekly sabbath
 
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