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“On the seventh day, God finished the work he had been doing;

so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”

Genesis 2:2 (NIV)

God instituted the action of honoring the Sabbath as he finished creating the earth. At the end of each day and each phase of creation, He said his work was good.

(Genesis 1:10,12, 18,21, 25,31)

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall

labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the

Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you,

nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant,

nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. The Lord blessed the

Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20:8 (NIV)

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments as a gauge of man’s status with Him. He makes it perfectly clear that this command is one to be observed by free men and slaves, domestic and foreigners.

Since the resurrection of Christ, a lot of Christian believers have observed The Lord’s Day. But, do we actually observe the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day as God has directed us?

In our 21Century world, we don’t always see this Commandment being observed. Retail stores are open seven days a week. Gas stations, likewise, will fill your vehicle’s tanks any day of the week. Convenience stores are open every day of the year—employees work partial shifts on Thanksgiving and Christmas. In Indiana, there has been a movement to change the law to allow the car dealerships to be open on Sundays. If this should come to pass, the banking institutions may have to follow suit in order to be able to make loans.

When I was new to cyber-space, one of the blogs I followed and an email list I am still on practiced a cyber-Sabbath. The lady who owned the email list refrained from being online on Sunday; she felt Sunday was a time for family interaction. The present owner also abides by this practice. One of the authors I follow on Facebook also observes this practice. Because of the example set by these two and the present owner of the email list, I try to observe the Cyber-Sabbath, either on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, or on Saturday, the Sabbath.

I understand there are certain industries and that have to be operational on the Lord’s Day—hospitals, nursing homes, correctional systems, and fire and police. Those who work in these fields need to have times of rest and relaxation and time to worship God.

Pastors have to work on Sundays. Overall, they choose another day to have as their ‘Sabbath’ to worship God and to refresh themselves.

Hospital personnel who work every other weekend and every other holiday get another day to rest in place of the Sunday and the holiday they worked. Correctional personnel work with a floating day off inside of each seven days. One time a month, they receive two consecutive days off.

Can those of us who don’t fall into the health, corrections, and retail industries or don’t have the calling into the ministry learn to observe the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day as God intended?

"Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life" from Tom Kelley

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