Taking back Sundays
I find it interesting in many evangelical Christian circles the importance of keeping the 10 Commandments posted in public areas, but the unimportance of practicing all 10 of them.
What do I mean by that?
We think that Sunday = a day to work ourselves to death and stay busy. Seriously, think about all of the activities that many of us are involved in on Sundays: ballgames for the kids, tons of shopping, catching up on work that we neglected from Monday-Saturday, and generally not finding anytime to really rest and reflect on the week ahead and the week past.
I am not saying that the only activities we should be invovled in on Sunday are church, rest, Bible reading, but I do believe that Christians could do well to use the good gift that God gave to us: a day of rest.
I used to stay extremely busy on Sundays and not use the time as a day to really rest. When Monday came, I was ill prepared for the week ahead because I was tired, sluggish and in need of rest. So many times, we see people who suffer from "burnout" or are exhausted, because the entire weekend has been spent running from here to there, taking care of business and staying too, too busy.
I believe that American Christians especially, have dropped the ball on this day. We go to church Sunday morning (or saturday night if we're too busy), then spend the afternoon working, shopping, and not really taking any time to enjoy the day. Then if we're lucky, we go to church that night, or attend small group (small groups are great!) and then maybe we'll take an hour or so before bedtime to sit on the couch and take a break, or maybe not.
We live in a society that tells us to be busy at all times, and there are a lot of great things to do for fun. We work so much during the week and have little time to take care of things during the week. There are pressures in life that tell us we need to finish this or that, but you know what, it is good to take some time to rest. God was so gracious when he established the pattern of 6 days work, 1 day rest. He actually gives us a day to rest. That's an extremely gracious gift, and we would do well to actually take some time on our Sunday and treat it differently than we do the other six days of the week. It will really make a difference.
What do I mean by that?
We think that Sunday = a day to work ourselves to death and stay busy. Seriously, think about all of the activities that many of us are involved in on Sundays: ballgames for the kids, tons of shopping, catching up on work that we neglected from Monday-Saturday, and generally not finding anytime to really rest and reflect on the week ahead and the week past.
I am not saying that the only activities we should be invovled in on Sunday are church, rest, Bible reading, but I do believe that Christians could do well to use the good gift that God gave to us: a day of rest.
I used to stay extremely busy on Sundays and not use the time as a day to really rest. When Monday came, I was ill prepared for the week ahead because I was tired, sluggish and in need of rest. So many times, we see people who suffer from "burnout" or are exhausted, because the entire weekend has been spent running from here to there, taking care of business and staying too, too busy.
I believe that American Christians especially, have dropped the ball on this day. We go to church Sunday morning (or saturday night if we're too busy), then spend the afternoon working, shopping, and not really taking any time to enjoy the day. Then if we're lucky, we go to church that night, or attend small group (small groups are great!) and then maybe we'll take an hour or so before bedtime to sit on the couch and take a break, or maybe not.
We live in a society that tells us to be busy at all times, and there are a lot of great things to do for fun. We work so much during the week and have little time to take care of things during the week. There are pressures in life that tell us we need to finish this or that, but you know what, it is good to take some time to rest. God was so gracious when he established the pattern of 6 days work, 1 day rest. He actually gives us a day to rest. That's an extremely gracious gift, and we would do well to actually take some time on our Sunday and treat it differently than we do the other six days of the week. It will really make a difference.
posted by Bobby's blog at 9:34 AM
1 Comments:
A wise man once said... Sundays should be "dedicated, devoted, and different"
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