Reading the Sunday Paper

"Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.” Exodus 20:20

It all started with the Sunday newspaper.

Growing up, we never read the Sunday paper in our house.  It was a day set aside for God and for rest.  My mother and father always took that very seriously.  So did I.

After graduating from college and getting an apartment of my own, the local newspaper began to throw a free daily subscription on my porch in an attempt to get me to subscribe.  As I began to read it with interest each day, I looked forward to the Sunday edition.  It was the biggest and fattest with special coupons and sections I did not find on the other days of the week.  The next thing I knew, the entire afternoon after church services was filled with reading the Sunday paper rather than reading the Holy Bible and resting as I had been lovingly taught.

It wasn't long before that one little act of compromise—that I didn't even recognize as compromise—led to so many others.

Many people are dismissive of such things.  They twist Jesus' words saying He is Master of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5) and, "the Sabbath was made to benefit man, and not man to benefit the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27), to excuse and justify behavior that isn't really honoring of the Sabbath at all.

God knows our hearts and whether they are intent on honoring Him this most glorious of all days of the week.

I would be remiss not to mention one of the most wonderful promises from God related to honoring the Sabbath, written in Isaiah.  It says, "If you keep the Sabbath holy, not having your own fun and business on that day, but enjoying the Sabbath, speaking of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day, and honoring the Lord in what you do, not following your own desires and pleasure nor talking idly—then the Lord will be your delight, and I will see to it that you ride high and get your full share of the blessings I promised to Jacob, your father. The Lord has spoken" (Isaiah 58:13-14).

I can't think of anything more joyful than that.

Goodnight, Runners.