Remember the Sabbath

Remember the Sabbath. That's what the Fourth Commandment says in Exodus 20:8-11. The Bible reminds us constantly throughout its contents of this. Now, I personally believe in the seventh day Sabbath. That is to say, sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. We could get into why this is. But we'll save that for a later time. 


God made the Sabbath for our rejuvenation. We were made as creatures with the need to worship. He gave us six days to work. All He asks is one day for us to sit down, slow down, and worship Him who made us. He loves us with an everlasting love. The Sabbath is a reminder to worship Him, and this in turn helps us to rejuvenate, being ready for another week. 

Exodus 20:8-11 (NKJV)

⁸ “ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. 

Awesome Quote

Christ rejoiced that He could do more for His followers than they could ask or think. He spoke with assurance, knowing that an almighty decree had been given before the world was made. He knew that truth, armed with the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, would conquer in the contest with evil; and that the bloodstained banner would wave triumphantly over His followers. He knew that the life of His trusting disciples would be like His, a series of uninterrupted victories, not seen to be such here, but recognized as such in the great hereafter. – {DA 679.2}

Do Everything For God's Glory

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." So what is it you do for a living? Do you trade stocks? What about organizing books? Or maybe you clean toilets? Do you like your job? Do you hate it? I don't know about you but I don't like cleaning the bathroom much. I like dishes even less. But this passage says that whatever we do, it should be done to the glory of God.

So how do we do this? How do you give God glory in a job that you might hate? This has been a difficult lesson for me to learn at times. A biggie here is to realize it's not about us. As I was listening to the pastor preach this past Sabbath, he called our attention to the story of Leah having sons in Genesis 29. She thought three times that Jacob would finally love her for having a son each of the three times. Finally, when the fourth son was born, she realized it wasn't about her. She finally learned to praise God no matter what. Genesis 29:35 says, "She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah."

2 Corinthians 5:17

So, one thing you, my readers, will discover about me is that I love the original Greek of the Bible. I love to dig into it and have fun with studying it. That being said, lets move on to today's blog post.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says this: "“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” It is interesting to note that the Biblical Greek word for “creation” is “κτίσις.” While “creation” is one of its meanings, it can translate to “the act of creating” as well. So in other words, if anyone is in Christ, they are continually being re-created. (Blue Letter Bible). When a person accepts Christ, Christ no longer sees them as the person they were. He has given them a new identity, His own identity. He sees them as washed clean with His blood. 

The old things have gone away. Adios. Good-bye. In the words of Mercy Me (one of my favorite music groups), so long self. We have moved on. The life we lived and all the worldly attributes of it: gone. We slowly notice our temper not getting so hot anymore. We begin to see our selfish nature melting away.  We have become "καινός." I know some might be saying, "Bless you," right about now. But we are made new.This word means, "recently made, fresh, recent, unused, unworn" or "of a new kind, unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of." (Blue Letter Bible). Remember earlier what was said about how Christ sees us? This is it! He sees as as new! We are fresh! Uncommon! And my personal favorite, we are "of a new kind!" 

So when you accept Christ into your heart, it is a life long process. Everyday we are being made new. So don't be discouraged. Be encouraged! Christ sees you as clean and perfect the moment you accept Him. You are His new creation.

Accountability: What is it?

The Collins English Dictionary defines accountability in terms of being answerable or responsible to someone for certain actions. (Dictionary.com). But what is it in the Biblical sense? There is first personal accountability. Romans 14:12 says that everyone will give to God an account of their own life. Whether we do it now, or wait till it’s too late, it still has to be done.

            1 John 4:21 says, “And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” So, in a sense, everyone is called to at least a basic level of accountability to God and to each other. If one loves God, one will also love their fellow believers as well. This love carries with it the desire to know how things are going with each other and to see if anyone needs prayer or other help (be it spiritual or otherwise).

            Titus 2:9-10 says for slaves to obey their masters and to avoid doing evil to them. The purpose of this was to “make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” When applied to modern day life, this purpose should be everyone’s goal, especially in accountability. New and mature believers alike both need this. Whether the purpose is to attain a closer relationship to God, or to overcome an addiction, or both, one foundational and cardinal truth of accountability is to become more attracted to God’s teaching and love for us.