Keeping it Holy

8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (EXODUS 20:8 - 11)

Do I recognize the blessing of a day of rest? It has been given to us by God...a day set aside to not work, but rather to rest from our work, to rest in Him. Do I look forward to the Sabbath as a day off from work, a day to "catch up?"

I think I'm better at keeping it a day of rest, but do I rest in the Lord? It seems I just sit around, snooze in my chair, and eat. The Sabbath is a holy day...how can I be more intentional about resting in Him? What would that look like?

Definitely more time in prayer. Maybe taking a prayer walk. Maybe staying in the church to pray for every person who attended. Maybe writing a prayer reflecting on the week.

I could read--Scripture or an inspirational book. Read just to read...and then meditate on what I read...hide it in my heart.

I could listen to music--maybe something I don't normally listen to: a symphony or choral music.

I could refuse certain things...TV shows, stopping at the store, Facebook or computer games...things that are a part of the other six days of the week.

As I write this list, I see that I could incorporate all of these ideas...unless it becomes work. Once the object becomes doing the things instead of resting in God, then the Sabbath is no longer holy. It becomes another day.

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Cutting Back

JOHN 15:1 - 4

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

The black raspberry crop this year is overwhelming. Each day I go out to the patch at the edge our backyard and pick at least a quart of the plump purple-black globes. I've noticed, though, there are many clusters of undeveloped, dried-up berries. These clusters come from britle, whithered branches, while branches on the same vine remain lush and suptle. It's time to cut the unproductive branches off before they rob the productive branches of life-giving energy.

Pruning is necessary to the fruitful life. Pruning involves cutting back and cutting off. Both are done in order to bring about more fruitfulness. But the cutting off is a task of finality. The branch is no longer or has quit giving fruit. It is cut so that the vine can nourish and support the branches that are producing fruit. Cutting off is an act of finality. Branches are removed--detached from the life-giving vine--and then thrown into the fire...burned to char and ash.

Cutting back, however, is an act of continuation, of perpetuation. The branch that has produced fruit is cut back so that it can support more blossoms, more fruit, perhaps even shoot another branch.

It is important to note that branches that produce fruit are cut back. Branches that don't produce fruit are cut off, but branches that are productive are not allowed to go on, assuming that the will always produce the abundant, luscious fruit that they once produced. These branches are trimmed back so that their fruit will increase. More will be expected from them...but they will be prepared to produce more.

Wow! Can I look at my recent times of pruning as a time of preparation? God, the vinedresser has removed branches from me that produced no fruit, but even where there was fruit, he has cut that branch back...so that it would produce more. The months of questioning, self doubt, and self-pity are not punishment...they are months of pruning--removing some pride, complacency, some laziness. I give thanks for this pruning. Though it stung at the time, I couldn't see that the non-producing branch was damaging future fruit production.

And where fruit has been produced, even those branches have been cut back. I see spiritual growth, but it's not explosive...not yet. That branch needs more tending, more preparation. It has been pruned. More fruit is coming...maybe in the next season...or two or three.

Throughout this whole process I must stay attached to my vine. I am not the vine...I am a branch dependent upon the rooted vine to nourish and strengthen me. My vine is my support. One day my branch will bear so much fruit that I will need that vine to hold me up. Without strength from the vine, I will break off and die. My abundant fruit will fall to the ground and rot before it has a chance to ripen.

 

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In the Weeds

JONAH 2:5 - 7

5 The waters closed in over me to take my life;

the deep surrounded me;

weeds were wrapped about my head

6 at the roots of the mountains.

I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever;

yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.

7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD,

and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.

Feeling overwhelmed. Feeling trapped by the overwhelming depths. Where is my way out, my escape? Have I remembered God?

In her devotional book, At the Feet of Jesus, Joanna Weaver says that the root of the word "tomb" means "to recall or remember." The word for the place of final rest, a word signifying death, means to remember. When Jonah was at the place of his imminent death, he remembered. Isn't that so human? We start going down, we struggle and try to fight our way back to the surface, but we're pulled to the depths where the lush weeds ensnare. As we fight with the last breath...we then remember. We call on God. It seems that only until we reach that point of waning oxygen will we remember to cry out for help. Yet God's help is available to us every step of the way. Why do we wait until we're in the tomb? Why do we not "remember" until the weeds have their hold?

One of my favorite sayings--going back to my days of waiting tables--is, "I'm in the weeds." In the food service industry, that meant I needed help. I had too many tables at various stages of service and I couldn't meet their needs. If I told the hostess or the manager that I was in the weeds, I wouldn't be seated more tables. Someone would take drinks to a waiting table, another person would fix my salads, yet another would tray up food from the window so that as I was taking the order for one table, the food for another would be ready to be served. With this cooperative help, I was soon free of the weeds.

This feeling of being in the weeds resonates today. So many things to attend to...so many problems or potential problems...where do I go first? Do I dare start something that might not get finished because I will be pulled to another problem area? And what about those problems that just don't seem to make any sense? Problems that shouldn't be...but yet are.

I am in the weeds. That means I'm in the depths and my breath is failing. How will I use that final breath? Will I cry out? Oh, yes. But WHY did I wait until this desperate moment? Why did I not cry out as I was going down? Did I not recognize it as it was happening? or did I not include God in my plans?

Isn't this the story of Jonah? God had a plan for him, but he decided on another plan--his own. And he worked it. He worked it hard, until his plan resulted in rejection. He was thrown overboard and sank. It wasn't until he was in the depths, the tomb, that he remembered his faithful God. And He cried out.

I am also in the depths. I cry out, not for my success, but to be restored to my call; to proceed in what God has called me to do, with God as my partner. God will rescue me. And I will remember His rescue, not when I'm in the tomb, but as I follow His lead.

 

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Preventing Build-Up

ZECHARIAH 7:11 - 14

11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. 12 They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts. 13 As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the LORD of hosts, 14 “and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate.”

Hard hearts, soft hearts. I like how this is stated in verse 12: They made their hearts diamond-hard. The people made their hearts as hard as diamonds--impenetrable. Nothing got through. God called to them, encouraged them, wooed them, but they would not listen.

I'll admit...I find listening for God a difficult part of the call. Listening is difficult in any relationship. How often do I tune out my husband because I'm sure he's telling me something I already know. How often do I break into someone's conversation to add my opinion...because after all, I do have something valuable to add--something they need to hear.

Listening is difficult. With evangelism as our topic for this month's sermons, we'll learn that listening is a key part of our interactions w/people. How can we know that the time is right to share our faith if we aren't listening for cues that a person is ready to hear what we have to say?

But it all begins with listening to God. And that is even more difficult because we aren't face-to-face. We have to trust that what comes into the heart is from God. That means I have to know God...I have to know His character. I have to know that whatever I believe comes from Him is true to His character. And then knowing that He is patient, kind, loving...I can trust any direction that calls me to take to be the same.

I also have to recognize that sometimes I "decide" that something has come from God, when I know it is my own will. I have to be honest with myself because I do know my own character. I need to sort my own selfish will from the will of God. I need to make the difficult choice of putting aside my wants and needs (usually the need to be right). Each time I choose my own way and not God's, my heart will callous, toughen, turn diamond-hard. Because I allow the buil-up, it becomes more difficult for God's word to enter and transform me.

Father God, I want the soft heart that listens for and accepts your word of counsel and correction. Please keep me from hardening this heart against you. Keep me honest with myself, judging my own motives and actions against your righteousness. Thank you, Father. Amen.

 

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Enough to Live On

LUKE 12:16 -21 (ESV)

16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

Is this parable strictly about material wealth? What about our obligation and commitment to grow the Kingdom? Isn't there a bountiful harvest there that we might be tempted to store away thinking we've done enough...thinking that our time has come to live off that abundance?

It's interesting that within the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13), Jesus gave an explanation for why He taught in parables. He said to the disciples concerning the religious elite:

 

To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. (Matthew 13:11 - 13)

 

Jesus was saying that a spiritual blindness exists that keeps people from seeing the Kingdom of God; a spiritual deafness exists that keeps them from hearing the word of God. Those who those who have (in His day, the Jews who were certain that they were "right with God" because of their heritage) actually have-not. And what they think they have will be taken away and given to others. There are others who may appear to not have much, but in reality they do. And to what they have, even more is added.

The parable of the sower speaks of one who has. He goes out and spreads the seed. What he has, he casts plentifully. The farmer has been given an abundance of seed. He goes out to the fields and sows it with abandon. It doesn't take root everywhere, but that does not concern the farmer. He knows somewhere in the field there will be a crop. And sure enough, some of the seed yields a crop...an abundant crop. And here is where I paste the Luke parable. This farmer who had much, now has even more. What will he do with it? Will he store the harvest for himself so that he can sit back and take life easy? Or does he continue to work with the crop, preparing it for the next planting season?

If what the farmer has been given is "faith," and he has a great amount, he goes out to the fields and plants it. He shares his faith, telling his story and the work God has done in his life. He puts his faith to action by serving the needs of others--because of what the Lord has done for him. Not everyone who hears his story will accept it. Not everyone who sees him helping others will see that he does it out of love for God. But somewhere in that field, that seed will take root and the farmer will have a harvest. Someone will hear his story, will see his work, and that person will be moved to let Jesus into their life. The faith of that seedling-person will grow and flourish. The farmer will work with that one, disciple him/her, and preparing him/her to go out to the fields themselves. And that farmer will have a greater crop.

If I am one who "has," Jesus says more will be given to me. If I am one who has faith, even more will be given to me. What will I do with my abundance? Will I store it away to bring out and admire once in a while? Or will I go out and share it, knowing that it will not be received by everyone who hears or sees? That's a risk. Can I take it?

 

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