Monday 27 July 2015

Fourth Commandment
 
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 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. 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. Exodus 20:8-11
The doorway to the problems we had in our marriage was our failure to fulfill this Commandment, when Renato and I did not make time for each other. I wanted to go out and he wanted to stay home and sleep. When we stayed home, I was upset and when we went out, he was upset. Our seventh day was not the Lord’s but ours.
Many think that this Commandment talks about the Sabbath itself, but I have a different understanding. The Sabbath is the seventh day, in other words, it is the last day of the week where you have to stop working and dedicate this day to God. This doesn’t mean that you have to stay all day on your knees praying, so much so that the Lord Jesus worked the most on this day.
We sanctify our Saturday when we stop thinking about ourselves and think of our neighbor.
Have you noticed that we take time for many things and not for people? We take time to work, to take care of our home, to get beautiful, to rest, etc… When was the last time you took time for others?
Today, this is something rare. Children do their best to stay away from their parents. Siblings don’t have time to talk. Parents don’t have time or patience to spend time with their children. Husbands don’t like to spend time with their wives. Wives don’t like to spend time taking care of their husbands. Friends don’t have time to keep their friendships.
Now imagine with God? If people don’t have time for one another, how will they have time for God?