The Sabbath Day

The whole topic of the Sabbath day has been on my mind for a few days now. It started when I watched, for the 2nd or 3rd time, the movie Chariots of Fire (if you haven't seen it, it's a MUST), a movie that has won 4 Oscars. The film tells the story of 1924 Olympic gold medalist Eric Liddell who refused to run on Sunday which happened to coincide with the qualifying heat for his best event - the 100m race. He was the favourite to win for that particular event, but instead was disqualified as a result of his decision. He eventually went on to win the gold medal for the 400m event and a bronze for the 200m. You can imagine that through the whole ordeal, his actions proclaimed very loudly his faith to the world, something that he was not ashamed of at all. He died later as a missionary in China. The responses one would anticipate from many Christians would be "wow...that is so great that he stood firm for his faith. Good for him!" But is it just good for him? Is God's commandment in the Old Testament so far removed from us that we do not think it applies or that it's completely impractical?

Let me probe you to review what the bible says about the Sabbath day - In Exodus 20:9-11, God introduces the Sabbath "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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."and then again in Isaiah 58:13-14 "13 If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14 then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Now, let me fast forward and bring to you another story that perhaps is more "modern". I must confess that I did not get this story out of any form of comprehensive research but through a show on the television called The World's Richest people....something like that. On this particular episode a couple of days ago, it featured billionaire Dan T. Cathy, COO, an American, and son of founder Chik-fil-a, a fast food restaurant chain. I must admit I didn't even know it existed until I moved to Pittsburgh. That's when I noticed this new (to me) fast food chain, which strangely closes on Sundays?!?! My first instinctive thought was "Why? How stupid. Sunday is a day families eat out, they are loosing a ton of profit!" I remembered asking Dylan why the place is closed on a Sunday, very strange and completely unheard of for a fast food chain. That's when I found out the owner is a Christian.In the show, Mr. Cathy was clearly not ashamed to proclaimed that he is a Christian. Amongst all the charities, and God-honoring servant-leadership characteristics he displays to his employees (college scholarships, etc.) and customers (free food for life for the 1st 100 customers every time he opens a new store), Mr. Cathy boldly closes all restaurant chains on Sundays. Every Sundays he dedicates his time to God/church, serving the homeless in shelters, and spending time with his family. Wow. Of course, one could easily say that "well, he's got so much so he really doesn't need the extra profit from keeping the restaurant open one extra day." If we really examine the human nature, one is never satisfied with enough, especially when it comes to money and material things. As a society in a developed and developing world, we pride ourselves for working longer and longer hours in a week and celebrate those who put in those long hours by way of promotion. We attribute our success to our own hard work and by how many hours we can put in at the office, often at the expense of family.

I was truly inspired by Mr. Cathy. God gives us 6 days to work and only demands that we rest for one day and dedicate that day to spending time with him, to find our joy in Him, through worship and fellowship with others in a church or with our family and friends etc. Why is that so difficult to obey? Personally, I have been struggling to walk away from the computer on Sundays now that I am working from home. It is so tempting to say "oh, just this one little thing (work related. Mind you, let's not turn into Pharisees now since Jesus did works of necessity and mercy on the Sabbath) then I am done". But that one little thing inevitably will lead to another, and before you know it, you have dishonored God in a big way. Perhaps this is God's way of helping us not make an idol out of our work? Ah-ha! Who here doesn't assess their self-worth, identity or status in society by what they do rather than their identity in Christ? Are we afraid that if we stand firm with regards to the Sabbath, we are going to appear weird in the eyes of our bosses and co-workers? What about God's words to us? God said "If...., then..." (see Isaiah). Does that mean anything to us? Are we really going to loose that much by standing really firm on the sacredness of the Sabbath, the way God intended it to be? Can we bring ourselves to trust that if we honor God by keeping the Sabbath holy, He will in turn fill us with His joy (first and foremost) and everything else?

I must say I am definitely convicted by this new revelation. It'll be a new (and struggling) journey to honor God this way for me. I hope you'll join me in this journey, if you haven't already.