keep it holy

I finished up Exodus today. In some ways I'm glad. It can be overwhelming to read about all the dimensions and designs for the tabernacle... over and over again. However, try to look beyond the repetition and the monotony of it and look at what this is implying. Did God care how it was built? Absolutely. It seems ridiculous to think that he didn't when he went into such detail about each item no matter how seemingly insignificant. Yet He established something as "holy" that wasn't covered in gold - the Sabbath. This was a day to do nothing but honor God; no work, no stress, just a day to say "thank you". In Exodus 31:13 God said, "Tell the people of Israel to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the LORD, who makes you holy." What happens when we forget to honor God? Well, we might say that we forget what He's done for us, or what He's promised to do for us at Judgment Day. If we forget about his blessings then we may look around and see that others have things we want to be ours instead of taking time to thank God for what He HAS given us. Once our jealous and envious hearts want what other have long enough we'll be at risk of making compromises to our faith in order to get what they have. But as Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" However, we'll do it! We'll exchange the glory and blessings of God for garbage that kills us spiritually. After that we'll no longer look much different than the world and soon enough we'll completely lose our influence. Hmmmmmm, does that sound familiar? When Sunday became the day to honor God through His son Jesus, we were to commit the same standard from the Sabbath to the Lord's day. When did we give the Lord's day away? There was a time when things closed down for Sunday, not anymore. Perhaps our culture's rebellion against the day God set aside to honor him was more important than we must have thought. Our culture has suffered tremendously because of their lack of respect for God. What can you do about it? Try making it holy again.