Living on Sabbath Time: Day 9/31

• “The absent are dear, just as the dead are perfect.” _Alexander Whyte

              Leviticus 16:6 (NKJV) Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house.

It is important to remember that Sabbath living is not about having time off to goof off.  Sabbath living is about “sanctifying a day” each week as different from the rest (Genesis 2:3).  In other words it is taking a day out of circulation and making it holy unto the Lord.  It is much like paying your tithe.  When you tithe you are taking out of circulation one tenth of your income and sanctifying it as holy unto God.  In both case, what you have is less; less money and less time.

We are all familiar with the spiritual principle that teaches that when we do this we are demonstrating to God that He is our source; not our money or our time.  As a result, our “less” is more blessed than what we would have had if we had refused to obey
God’s commands.

But there is another important principle taught in living a Sabbath life.  Whether it is our money or our time, when we take a portion out of circulation and dedicate it to God, what is left suddenly becomes more valuable.  Those of you that are collectors know this; the more rare something is the more valuable it is and the more common it is the less value it has.

The point I want to make today is this: Sabbath living (taking one whole day of your week out of circulation) will make the rest of
the days more valuable.  Suddenly you will not have time to just allow evening after evening to merge together in mindless television viewing.  Time to spend on video games, Facebook, and YouTube will not be as readily available.  Instead, you will discover that your time is more valuable to you and you will begin spending it on things that really matter; like being concerned for you and your family’s spiritual, emotional and physical well-being.

This is the case with Aaron (see today’s verse).   God instructed him that before he did anything about his job (being priest to an
entire nation) he must first take care of him and his own family’s spiritual needs.  Not only that, God instructed him that he must use a bull as a sacrifice to provide atonement for him and his family.   I don’t know when the last time you’ve checked on the price of a bull, but the price runs in the thousands of dollars.  In other words, to live the sort of life that will be a blessing both to you and your family will require the wise use of your time and resources.  You will not have the time or the resources to have time off to goof off; instead, you will discover just how precious and valuable the time and resources are that God has given you and you will begin to invest them in things that truly bring joy and give an eternal return.

That is what Sabbath living is all about.

Still resting in Him,

dlkemp