Become One Flesh

“”Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Exodus 20:8

We have ten commandments in the Old Testament that God Himself gave to Moses. Out of those ten, this is the only one where He tells us to remember, I take that as a commandment where He meant business. The question is, why does God continually tell us to remember? The answer is simple, we forget.

In this commandment, He is telling us to Sabbath. Most of the American Christian world has written off the Ten Commandments as “Old Testament” that doesn’t really matter anymore because Jesus came and set us free. There is a Scripture that states exactly that, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal 5:1). As Christians in America, what I see is people using that Scripture to do whatever they want and believing they are forgiven so it doesn’t matter. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8) so His desire for us to follow His commandments and His Spirit, but today it is out of love rather than obligation to achieve salvation.

The past few years have been a growing, learning, and maturing in Christ for our marriage and for each of us individually. Sabbath has become “a thing” for us. We have attended a few Sabbath Friday evenings in friends homes over the years and attended a few Seder dinners. I didn’t even have a clue what those things were ten years ago. In case you haven’t learned about them, they are traditions in Jewish heritage and were designed by God Himself. Since He is the same, always, I have made the decision that I want to honor Him in the things that He commanded of His people, by my choice because I love God and am grateful to be in His family.

Different people celebrate Sabbath different ways but one thing it always includes is sitting down to dinner on Friday evening, Sabbath, and beginning with prayers, repentance, Lord’s supper, and a meal. There is an exact way to do it in the Jewish custom, certain prayers and foods that are typically present, but the heart of it is the same. We are taking time to rest in Jesus, “knowing that He is faithful and will forgive us as we forgive others” (1 John 1:9). We decided in our home, we want to take time to rest in Father God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. When we rest a day as God did, He honors that by showing up and communing with us. We are learning to stop our minds and hearts and listen to what God is saying to us as we spend time in His presence. He told us to remember and rest, I doubt His desire for us has changed just because His Son came to set us free.

There is another Scripture that says that Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to be the fulfillment of the law (Matt 5:17-18). Not only that but Jesus next clearly commended those who teach the law and do so accurately:

“So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same,you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matt 5:19

It’s clear that though Jesus set us free from the law, God still expects us to keep it and to teach it accurately. Sabbath is a part of the law. Even God kept Sabbath, not because He needed it, He’s God after all. He offered us Sabbath as a gift to both us, and Him. We spend time acknowledging our need for Him when we rest. We do not do a traditional Sabbath when we are home, but we are learning how. After our meal on Friday, we spend the following day, the rest of Sabbath, resting in Him and in one another. This is a major way that Doc and I find time to reminisce about our life together and spend time weekly with each other. This world is busy and making time for Sabbath isn’t always easy, but the benefits we have gotten from making it a priority in our lives has changed everything.

We choose to remember the Sabbath day and we are working on what it looks like for us to keep it Holy. I believe God honors however we do it as long as He is a central part of it. Even when life gets overly busy, my hope is that we will have at least one day each week when we honor Him, we love on one another, and we spend time with family both blood and created. Sabbath is a gift and has been a gift to our marriage so we are choosing to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it Holy.”