What does it mean that God has given us a day to "keep holy"?
Holiness is radical separateness, radical special-ness so that something (or someone! Us!) is so reserved for, designated to, and devoted unto God that it is called sacred, consecrated.
But the emphasis isn't upon what it's separated from, but rather upon what it's separated for.
So often, we are tempted to focus upon the negatives of what we cannot do on God's holy day. When we do that, we make the mistake of viewing His day as a day of burden and deprivation, as if we are accomplishing some kind of spiritual super-work by going without for God's sake.
That is the wickedly mistaken attitude that God is correcting in the opening verses of Isaiah 58. And, where He takes us from there is, well, delightful!
So, is the Lord's Day a day set apart to ourselves, so we can finally wind down and get some R&R into the crazed and hectic lives into which we have plunged ourselves in this culture? Or is it a day set apart to something (or Someone! The LORD!) far more delightful and rejuvenating than any created thing could be?
As I get going on my new reading plan, on upcoming Worship Wednesdays I intend to read The Day of Worship: Reassessing the Christian Life in Light of the Sabbath by Ryan McGraw, in which we hope to recover a biblical heart toward the Lord and His day, delighting in it and treasuring it as a glorious and miraculously re-creating gift.
This one will be starting August 16, God-willing.
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