Exodus 21-40: Sabbath

   Everyone needs a little rest. According to the Bible, 1/7 of our waking time should be restful.

   The Sabbath is something that has been on my mind a lot this week. I heard a sermon once about how the Sabbath is . . . well, a real thing. It's a Biblical directive that we should allot time for resting. Just like we should honor our father and mother and not murder people and have no other gods or idols. I think it's interesting how we ascribe so much importance to the 10 commandments . . . and then kind of ignore that whole Sabbath thing. Or maybe I'm wrong in thinking a lot of other people besides myself don't consider that commandment as being of equal importance to the rest. 

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   Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all of your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. Exodus 20:8-11

   Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed. Exodus 23:10-12 

   You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy. Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you.  Exodus 31:13-17

   The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Mark 2:27

   There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest. Hebrews 4:9-11
           

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   My thoughts on the meaning of the Sabbath: It doesn't have to be Sunday; I think the importance is an exchange of 6 days work for 1 day rest. What constitutes "work" and "rest" is probably different for everyone; resting doesn't have to mean sitting in a chair and staring at the wall all day . . . but I guess maybe it could for some people. Keeping the Sabbath "holy" seems to mean that worship or some kind of intimate time spent with the Lord is involved. 

   These are the problems I have with it:

A. I don't get enough stuff done in the other 6 days of the week, so the 7th day is for overflow.

1. What am I saying? That the world just ends if I don't do all of these things I feel like I have to do? That my influence and impact in those things is that important? Thinking through it makes me feel a little arrogant and a lot that I'm just kind of forgetting that God runs the show. Clearly he thinks 6 days of work is sufficient, so why am I trying to say otherwise? 
2. Why am I not getting enough done in those first 6 days? Am I not managing my time well? Am I wasting time with frivolous or pointless things? Do I have too much on my plate? Am I over committed and overextended? Are my priorities in line? Doing a lot of stuff or trying to be super-wife or super-achiever is cool, but realistically I have a finite amount of resources and time. 

B. What do I even find restful?

• Okay, that sounds weird. But I've been noticing that things I thought were relaxing aren't doing it for me anymore, if they ever did in the first place. 
• I spend all week in go-mode, and then I don't know how to stop or I feel weird stopping. OR I spend all week resenting go-mode and end up having empty days - no work, no rest. It's kind of dumb, isn't it? I want to rest, so I stop working but don't rest? I mean, come on Court, really? 
• I anticipate the next day or even the next week a lot. So I spend my free day thinking and planning and analyzing and scheduling. That is not restful. 

   So . . . what am I going to do about this?

   I don't know.


   Step 1: Get my husband on board. It's helpful to have an accountability buddy in stuff like this. Also, it would probably be good for him to expect that I won't be doing much on Saturdays (my Sabbath day). 
   Step 2: Try not to do any work on Saturday if at all possible. Clean and study and run errands and write serious things and all that kind of stuff on the first 6 days. In the future, avoid making commitments that require me to do things I consider "work" 7 days a week. 
   Step 3: Experiment with things that seem potentially restful.
   Step 4: Prayerfully adjust. In fact, prayerfully do the previous three steps because I have no idea what I'm doing here. 

   
   Thoughts? Suggestions? 

~ Court

American What?

   

 Seems lately every time I turn around I hear someone talking about this; the Christian American. Whenever they tell me their definition of such a person and the negative connotation they associate with it, I always say, “I know! That’s why Court and I have this blog!” We’re not trying to chastise, or correct, or pass judgement on anyone. On the contrary, I've been quite the definition of this myself many a time. What our goal here, essentially, is to understand how, as Americans, we are to live our Christ-centered lives. 

The question I found myself asking, well, myself, before we started this endeavor was, “Am I an American Christian, or a Christian American?” (Note in these two titles appear to be an adjective and a noun, respectfully.) SO, do I identify as an American woman who practices Christianity, i.e. a Christian American, or do I find my identity in something else? Yes, I’m proud to be an American. The fundamentals this country was founded on are beautiful, and I am incredibly blessed to live in a country where I can even write this blog freely and unafraid. BUT, my identity goes much further than where I place my citizenship. My identity, and praise God for it, is found just there, within the heart of God. I am a Christian, a woman sold out to God, who will do anything for Him, and who happens to live in America. I am an American Christian.

What I feel, and what I’m finding others are noticing, is that “Christian Americans” believe in Jesus, and know who He is, and go to church sometimes, and basically live “good” lives, so that’s that. Content. Nothing more to do. Let’s not talk about our beliefs for fear of ruffling any feathers, and let’s not care what others believe because it’s their life and their choice. To better deal with that, let’s not really believe in hell, so that we don’t feel so bad when we realize so many around us just might be headed straight there because of what they believe. Again, this will offend, so let’s just believe that as long as you live a basically good life, God will cut you a break. Nevermind what His Word says. That’s what we’re going to believe. While we’re at it, let’s delve into sin (just the light-hearted stuff. We’re not doing the bad stuff, like killing or stealing), and seize the day. Carpe diem! It’s harmless right?

“JESUS answered, ‘It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
Luke 4:8

But here are the facts. To live as Christ called us to live is literally the hardest thing we can do. It’s not rainbows and sunshine and “It’s all good. Jesus LOVES you! So keep on doing what you’re doing!”

                                                   It’s.             Hard.

He must be above everything else. He must be our first and true love. He must be our greatest desire. We’re going to be called “Jesus freaks” and “Bible thumpers” in this society. What I’m learning, however, is that compared to what Jesus’ disciples went through (ahem, MARTYRDOM), being called a “Bible thumping weirdo” really isn't all that bad. So WHY do we make it out to be??

“Then JESUS replied, ‘Love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.’”
Matthew 22:37-38
“And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple”
Luke 14:27
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”
Colossians 3:23

Todays challenge: Meditate on this. Sit, be quiet, and ask yourself, “Am I a Christian, or an American? Do I love God enough to go the distance?” Don’t be discouraged if the answer is no. Mine was no for the VAST majority of my life. Sometimes it still is. The fact is, being a Christian is tough. It’s really really tough. But the beauty of that fact is this: We don’t have to do it alone. We will NEVER have to do it alone. He saved you. He loves you. He wants to hang out with you!! Not just see you every now and then on Sunday and hear from you when times are tough. He literally wants to hang out with you. His creation. His bride. His beloved. The more that sinks in, the more we soak and marinate and bask in His love and promise and truth, then the easier it will get. Come near to Him. He’ll come near to you. That, my friends, is a promise.

James 4:8

I love you always

Ariel

Exodus 5-20: Life Calling and Rituals

   I've got two things to share this week. Neither of which are related to the actual Exodus, which was the high point of our reading this week. I wasn't expecting that, but I think I like it. 



The Call of Moses

   It's useful to look at God's calling on various people throughout the Bible when assessing his call on our own lives. Here are some of the parts I found most enjoyable and thought-provoking about Moses' call.

 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" He said, But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.

(3:11-12)

Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I am who I am." 

(3:13-14)

But Moses said to the Lord, "Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue." Then the Lord said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak." But he said, "Oh my Lord, please send someone else." . . . "You shall speak to Aaron and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do." 

(4:10-15)

Purpose of Ritual

   Having our lives be representations of the Lord's work in them starts in the Old Testament, not just after Jesus. It's just shown in different ways. While it's easy for modern Christians to treat rituals like they're this taboo or lesser thing, here we are reminded that the Lord gave his people traditions to follow with a purpose:

"When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb . . . And when in time to come your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' you shall say to him, 'By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.' It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt."

(13:11-16)

   They also served another purpose. Without Jesus, the people had to prepare themselves to be in the presence of All-Holy God by performing certain rituals (this is one of the many reasons Jesus=Freedom - with His salvation we are no longer required to follow the rituals and Old Testament laws that fulfill this purpose; it's an important thing to remember as we delve more into those laws and look at which are applicable today). But even still these rituals were incomplete. They were incomplete because people even made mistakes in trying to save themselves from their mistakes. The Old Testament as a whole proves to us that salvation-by-merit will never work, because our merit is imperfect. The ritual-system was also incomplete because, ultimately, this method of salvation was insufficient for being permanently in the full-presence of God. Even after consecration, limits still had to be put in place to distance the people from God's righteousness.

The Lord said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people all around . . ." . . . And the Lord said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish."

(19:10-21)

Moral of the story - God does cool stuff when he calls us to our destiny. Rituals serve a purpose, but we are free from their restraint by the saving work of Jesus Christ.

What do you think about this stuff?
Anything else from this week that you'd like to talk about?
Leave a comment, and let's chat :)


~Courtney


P.S. I can touch on the the two opposing views of the historicity of the Exodus if anyone is interested. I didn't because I had other things I preferred to write about this week. But let me know if you would be interested in reading about that!