Questions of the sabbath. This is one of the areas I struggle with greatly. I have read the Old Testament more times than I can count and I know what the big ten tell me about the sabbath. Yet when I look a the life and words of Jesus it seems the sabbath has been altered. Perhaps more than altered the sabbath has been clarified. The religious people of Jesus day boiled the sabbath down to a list of things you could and could not do, but did it remind people of their relationship with God? That is the measure of sabbath, when we break the regular patterns of life to make sure our lives are firmly rooted in Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:1-9
If life is about the credentials we carry, Paul had some pretty incredible credentials in the religious world. The religious establishment of his day held Paul in high regard, he did it right and followed all the right things. Yet Paul willingly gives all that up for the sake of Jesus Christ. I wonder if we would give up all the esteem and respect the world offers us for the sake of Jesus Christ?
Psalms 119: 153-160
The fear of helping people on a journey through the Bible is it will become a list to check off instead of a relationship that breathes life. The Scriptures are about bringing life and peace to those who would engage the journey, not simply add to an over filled to do list. May we read the Scriptures for what they truly are, not a checklist.
2 Kings 14-15
The list of kings rolls on, and so does the cycle. Some of the kings do what is right in the eyes of the Lord while others do what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. Whatever direction the king took so didn't the people. I am sure not all the people of God went the way of the kings who did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as not all went the way of those who did right. Nonetheless the leader was the person of influence and could let the people to faithfulness or destruction. This is a weighty thought for anyone who is in leadership.
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