Lids, Jars, Lydonthejar

From the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

58. Q. What is required in the fourth commandment?

A. The fourth commandment requireth the keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his Word; expressly one whole day in seven, to be a holy Sabbath to himself.

60. Q. How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?

A. The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.

61. Q. What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?

A. The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission, or careless performance, of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.

62. Q. What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment?

A. The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are, God’s allowing us six days of the week for our own employments, his challenging a special propriety in the seventh, his own example, and his blessing the Sabbath day.

I wasn’t specifically thinking about the Sabbath when flipping through the Shorter Catechism this afternoon, but these four questions caught my attention. For the past year and a half, the richness of God’s grace in the fourth commandment has become near and dear to me. Who would think that setting aside one day in seven to rest from “worldly employments or recreations” would bring such blessing? I used to have such a narrow, superficial understanding of Sabbath rest. I considered my duty of honoring the day discharged as soon as I stepped outside of the church doors. But there is so much more to this commandment than church attendance!

Currently I’m working on memorizing Isaiah 58 (four verses to go!).

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 58:13,14)

I don’t know about you, but “rid[ing] on the heights of the earth” sounds pretty great to me! The fact that the fourth commandment is calling for more than some simple outward act of conformity (i.e. just attending church) seems implicit in the language of Isaiah 58. We are to turn back [our] foot from the Sabbath, to cease and desist from doing [our] pleasure, to refrain from idle words. Shorter Catechism question 60 talks about resting “even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days”, and question 61 avoids “unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.”

Why does God challenge a “special propriety” on the seventh day? According to the dictionary, propriety means “appropriateness to the purpose of circumstances; suitability” or, “rightness and justness”. Well, there are a couple answers to that, as question 62 summarizes. God Himself rested on the seventh day when creating the world (imagine that!). Surely God cannot tire from His work, but nevertheless He rested. Also, God blesses the Sabbath. It’s as if He has set up a spring of refreshing water, available when we honor His command and stop our frantic work.

It’s important to note that God does not simply say what is forbidden on the Sabbath. He doesn’t ask us to deny ourselves for the sake of denying ourselves, but to open us up to true pleasures! He wants us to rest and recuperate from a week of work, He wants to draw us closer to Himself, He wants to fill us up to overflowing with Himself, He wants us to enjoy worshiping Him. He wants to “feed” us, as Isaiah 58 says!

Personally, I have enjoyed such blessing from resting on the Sabbath. I have time to pore over the Word, pray, go for long walks and enjoy God’s creation, reflect on lessons God has been teaching me in the past week, discuss the day’s sermon with my family, write letters to my overseas friends, read books (instead of textbooks), fellowship with other believers, and so on.

In what specific ways do you honor and enjoy the Sabbath? Is it like a spring of refreshing water to you? (post comments!)

(photo: an elderly gentleman was handing out little New Testaments last week in front of the library)

“Every now and then, I run into a woman who I am completely mystified and inspired by, all in one.  I am mystified because she exudes a trait that I want in myself, but I cannot put my finger on it.  I am inspired because I know through Christ it is possible, whatever this trait is.

I have been thinking a lot about it recently.  What is that “it” that makes some Christian women so lovely?  No amount of model beauty can compare.  It is completely eclipsed in the shadow of the cross in their lives.  When they are around, instead of making you feel  like you do not meet par, you are encouraged along.  Instead of insecurity, you are inspired.  They a real.  They are not falsely angelic.  They admit they are sinners saved by the grace of God.  They laugh and play like everyone else–and all with an eternal perspective.  Do you know what I am talking about?  Do you know one of these women?

As I have been pondering this, something else has been on my mind this week about beauty.  Whenever I have met one of these women, I have never seen them give the competitive “eye.”  If you have been around groups of young (or older) women enough, you will become familiar when you spot “the eye.”  It is the eye of measuring up another woman.  Instead of greeting a woman with joy, sometimes women greet another woman with a comparison in their heart which shows in their outward facial expressions–their strained friendliness, perhaps.  The eye can also be in the form of a snide comment after a woman meets another in whom she feels she need to compare herself to.  You know you are one of these women when you immediately asses someone’s appearance head to toe to decide if you are just as attractive.  We might play the comparison game.  If that’s us…it’s time to come clean.

What changes envy or pride?  Asking God to forgive us of that sin is just the beginning.  God wants to change us into the image of Christ along with our repentance.  And Christ was a servant.  When we see this in a person, we often call it ’self-forgetful.’  Jesus did not consider Himself lofty, but touched the leper, whom others would not even go near.  He sat at the well with the adulteress, though most would not because of reputation’s sake.  He served others, even when it meant with His death.  He did not deny “the cup” of God’s wrath when He prayed in Gethsemane, but submitted to the will of the Father.  And He did not shun Peter for his betrayal, but even after His resurrection He had some more work to do in Peter, for Peter’s growth.

How do we forget ourselves?”

[read the rest of the post here]

Eve is one of the blogs I frequent, and I came across this post about a month ago. I pondered the question raised at the beginning: “What is that ‘it’ that makes some Christian women so lovely?” I agree with Shelley’s conclusion, that it is the beauty of self-forgetfulness.

The thing is, it’s easy to admire such a trait and then live as if one believed exactly the opposite. When I spend copious time in front of the mirror, fussing with my hair and evaluating my outfit from all angles, my anxiety betrays my true intent. Do I want whatever beauty I have to be eclipsed in the shadow of the cross, or do I want everyone else to be eclipsed in my shadow?

And I know the competitive “eye” well. When I was in Germany, one of the first things I noticed among my peer group was the “eye”. At school, on the bus, or walking down the street, girls constantly evaluated one another openly. When being introduced to someone new, the eye movement typically went something like this: eye contact for a couple seconds, then a slow up-and-down evaluation. I guess what surprised me about this was that girls didn’t try to hide it. In America, I think the only difference is that girls tend to be a little more furtive. They’ll still eye you, all right, but will probably do it when they think you aren’t looking.

The “eye” compares: how do I look standing next to this person? Am I more attractive than they are? Am I more interesting? Who is getting the most attention?

Not only is the “eye” a symptom of sin against God (who are we worshiping when we eye others?), it is destructive and drains the life out of relationships with our sisters in Christ. This past week, I taught a Sunday school class to six & seven-year-olds on the sixth commandment: “You shall not murder.” We talked about how literal killing is not the only kind of murder – hatred is murder as well. What struck me as I talked with the kids is that jealousy and envy are closely related to murder. That is, envy can grow into hatred, and hatred kills.

So when I envy my friend’s body, comparing mine to hers and judging mine to be lacking, it is not a petty sin. I am toying with hatred. Paul’s exclamation comes to mind, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24)

Thankfully, Jesus Christ himself will deliver. Just a couple verses later in Romans, Paul writes, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.” (Romans 8:1-3)

Oh, what a blessed hope that is! Christ frees us from the body of death, and through Him self-forgetfulness flourishes. We forget ourselves because our focus is elsewhere: on Him. And when our vertical focus is on Christ, our horizontal focus is on others. In this way our relationships are life-giving rather than life-taking, graceful and lovely rather than insecure and strained.