Love God Part 2
I could spend hours reading a novel, but when I pick up the bible I often struggle to focus.
I could spend hours watching TV but when it comes to watching a sermon, I struggle to stay awake.
Why is that? How can we be so interested in things that don’t really matter, but when it comes to important things, we struggle?
It could be that Satan doesn’t want us to do those things and tempts us, distracts us and does anything to get us to spend time with God.
Or it could be that we don’t realise how important it is.
Loving God is extremely important.
Love is central to being a Christian.
Loving God and loving others is the way Jesus sums up the law.
God wants us to put him first. What does this mean? It means spending time with him, acknowledging him as Lord, boss, creator and King.
What else can we do for God? God has listed 2 specific things that he wants us to do and they are the 3rd and 4th commandments.
Bible Passage: Exodus 20:7-11
"Do not misuse my name. I am the Lord your God, and I will punish anyone who misuses my name.
Remember that the Sabbath Day belongs to me. You have six days when you can do your work, but the seventh day of each week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day—not you, your children, your slaves, your animals, or the foreigners who live in your towns.In six days I made the sky, the earth, the oceans, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That’s why I made the Sabbath a special day that belongs to me."
Sabbath is a day invented by God. He rested after he made the world.
We are given this gift. Before this, everyone used to work 7 days a week. No rest!
But God wants our rest to be about him. Coming to him. It belongs to God.
What does that mean?
What do you think?
YES or NO?
On your day of rest, is it rest if:
You go to church?
If you feed your pet?
If you play sport (ride your bike, go for a swim, dance)
If you go to the shop for some food?
If you weren’t sure of some of the answers, then you’re not alone. There have been many debates over what is considered rest and what isn’t, and the Jews and Pharisees wanted to make sure they obeyed God perfectly. Jesus clarified it a bit for us, saying that the day of rest was created for people, so don’t get too hung up on it, but just make sure that you have a restful day that is different to all your other days (most people even get 2 over the weekend!) And devote the day to God. That’s the tricky bit.
Story Time!
When I was a teenager I devoured biographies and each one left me pondering about different things.
Suzanna Wesley was the youngest of 25 children.
She was born in 1669 and was married at 19.
Suzanna had 19 babies but 9 died.
Her house burned down twice.
She was always busy - looking after her all kids, cooking and cleaning.
She taught kids church because no one else could do it
She managed the family’s finances because her husband kept getting them into debt, borrowing and not paying back.
Her husband was a minister of a church but went to jail 2 times.
Suzanna loved God so much that she decided it was important to spend time with God - reading his word, thinking and praying. She decided that she would spend just as much time with God as she spent in leisure.
One minister came to look after her husband’s church while he was away and was not teaching her kids properly so she started doing her own scripture lessons.
The more time you put into something, the better you get at it.
The same can be said for the words you say.
Let’s talk about the other part of the passage.
Bible Passage: Exodus 20:7
"Do not misuse my name. I am the Lord your God, and I will punish anyone who misuses my name."
This simply means to use God’s name respectfully.
An example of not using God’s name respectfully is by calling on God when you don’t really mean it.
“Oh God!” When something bad or surprising happens.
“Jesus!” Is another thing people say.
I can imagine that people used to say these things but really were chatting with God, but now it is habit more than anything, like saying “bless you” after a sneeze. It doesn’t even make sense.
God deserves respect, and an easy way that we can do that is by calling him what he wants to be called - “Jesus, God, Father, Dad,” when we come to him and not saying his name when we aren’t even thinking of him.
I know christians who turned to Christ when they were adults and were in the habit of saying “oh God!” And “Jesus!” And they have really struggled to get out of the habit. Get in good habits while you.re young and say something else.
Question Time!
Is there anything about your language that might be good to change? What words will you stop saying and what will you replace it with?
What can you do on your rest day to devote it to God?
