The Lord said to work for 6 days and rest on the 7th day, correlating with His work of creation. This corresponds to Sunday through Friday for work and Saturday (yes Saturday!) for rest.
Then Jesus Christ resurrected on the 8th day. Even HE rested on the 7th day!! (ok border-line sacrilegious, but come on, it's true!)
Ok, Sunday is both the first day and the last day. Fine.
The Apostle directs us to set aside that day of Resurrection (Sunday) as a day for the Lord. The Lord's Day. "Sun" day (God gave us the sun to give us life; He gave His Son to give us Life - works in English anyway ;) they used to be the same word in Old English, but I digress).
That gives us Saturday for bodily rest and Sunday for giving to the Lord. That means that YES, you can "work" on Sunday: work directly for the Lord. The rest of your week should be for Him too, but Sunday should be very direct and obvious (prayer, Bible, church, liturgy, religious education, faith formation).
The thing that burns me is the people who DO NOT WORK DURING THE WEEK AT ALL - or MINIMALLY. Then suddenly, it's Sunday and "I can't work because it's Sunday."
HUH!!? God EARNED His day to rest (as if He needs to earn anything, the life-giver that He is, He can do what He wants). That is SATURDAY. It does not mean laziness - it means physical rest - refreshment. Do not worry about providing food yourselves (Israelites in the Desert could not collect Manna on this day).
And Sunday is a day FOR THE LORD. Not for YOU. It is your offering back to HIM.
Saturday is HIS gift to YOU for WORKING. Sunday is HIS day that you give back to Him in THANKSGIVING.
And if you don't earn a privilege, you can't DEMAND it. Don't collect your manna during the week, you don't get it on Saturday - or Sunday!
Stepping down from the soapbox now.
No comments:
Post a Comment