WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO THE SABBATH?

Today's reading: Nehemiah 10-13

"So I confronted the leaders of Judah, Why are you profaning the Sabbath in this evil way? Wasn't it enough that your ancestors did this sort of thing, so that our God brought the present troubles upon us and our city? And now you are bringing even more wrath upon the people of Israel by permitting the Sabbath to be desecrated in this way!" Nehemiah 13:17-18 NLT

You can read in this chapter what exactly the Israelites did to mar the holiness of the Sabbath. To modern Christians, it wouldn't look too wrong...

-They worked in the winepresses.

-They loaded their donkeys.

-They were bringing merchandise in to town for sale.

-They were making business transactions on the Sabbath.

When I think of all we 'cram' into our Lord's Day, I believe we are as guilty--if not more--than any one of these Israelites of profaning the Sabbath.

-We rush in and out of our services.

-We fill our trips to the 'temple' with as many meetings as we can get done with one trip.

-We bypass the sermon with our thoughts and lists of things to do.

-We possibly grumble our way into the church house because of the ministries we have been asked to perform.

-We view our Sundays as 'our days', not His.

Guilty, aren't we?

These two verses are giving my heart pause to consider what I have done to the Sabbaths, and what I intend to do in order to reclaim them for the Lord!

I want to