“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Exodus 20:8
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It is amazing how life can get away from us.
Monday turns into Tuesday and then the next day and the next and…just like that another week has gone by and then another month and another year and one day you wake up and half your life is over and you’re wondering, “Where did it go!?”
This is so common and tragic that God made special provisions to help us not do it. He gave us the ability to make something holy.
The first example is the Sabbath. The Sabbath is what English speaking people call Saturday. It’s a good day but not inherently different from, say, Monday or Thursday…unless…you choose to make it holy.
What God is saying is once a week cordon off an island of exclusivity — make one day exclusively different so that your week (and life) will not blur and blend into just one long drizzle of days.
He is teaching us to say, “Enough!”
Like a rope running through our hands or sand falling through an hourglass, He was saying, “Don’t let life get away from you! Stop! Slow down. Savor the labor and the results of your labor.”
In other words, to really live a fulfilling life every day can’t be just a different version of the previous day. We must remember to regularly make one day entirely, uniquely, distinctively, and exclusively different…an island exclusively unto itself.
Stay with me here…
We don’t have enough holy in a lot of areas in our lives.
As important as keeping one day a week holy is, there is a greater issue here. We don’t have enough holy in a lot of areas in our lives.
Marriage, for example. For a marriage to be all it can be it must be different from all other relationships. There are things you do and places you go in a marriage that are not a part of any other relationship. There are things you share and build in a marriage that are singular and exclusive. For a marriage to really work a couple must remember to keep it holy–an island of exclusivity. And not just when they are together but more importantly when they are not.
One more example: The majority of all embezzlers start out just “borrowing” from the accounts they’re supposed to be managing for other. They have every intent of paying it back, but little by little they dig a hole too deep to pay back and they cross a line and it becomes just a matter of time until shame and sorrow come knocking. All because they failed to keep the accounts under their care holy (separate, different from their own).
The ONE THING for today: Things have a way of burring and losing their distinctiveness and favor. Our antidote is to look for the holy and protect it with all our might. Remember! Remember today! Remember that which is most precious, dear, and cherished…and cordoned it off like an exclusive and holy island just for you and those you invite to join you.
The ONE THING 