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Sometimes we feel the need to chill.
Find a beach, dig our toes in the sand, and let the day pass us by.
Or maybe being a couch potato is more our style. Give us the remote, close the blinds, and we’re good for the day.
Wait! Stop! We’re Christians. We can’t be couch potatoes. We have work to do for the kingdom. Sheesh! Yet, Isaiah 58:13-14 tells us to do exactly that, to kick up our feet and chill our heels. You read that right. Chill our heels.
Let’s look at the passage, then look at what The Expositor’s Study Bible says about it.
“If you turn… from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight… then you shall take delight in the Lord…”
Turn from doing your pleasure means to stop what you do every day. Quit working. Change your routine. Step off the merry-go-round. Let yourself rest. The Expositor’s Study Bible says, “Under the Old Covenant… it was to be a day of rest rather than so much as a day of worship.”
That’ll get you back on the sofa. Who needs Sunday school? It’s in the Bible! Sunday is chill-out day!
Except. Yeah, another one of those. We are now under the New Covenant. The Expositor’s Study Bible goes on to say, “Under the New Covenant, Jesus is the Sabbath; therefore, denying ourselves and following him, and taking up the cross daily, constitutes Sabbath-keeping.”
Yeah, we can still park on the beach, or even chill on the sofa, remote in hand. That’s okay with God, even on Sunday. The question is whether we’re resting in ourselves or in our Lord. Are we denying ourselves for his sake and keeping his sacrifice on the cross first in our minds? If we are, we’ll find our delight in Christ, and we’ll know the joy of spending time with him.
Whatever we’re doing and wherever we’re going, if our thoughts are on Christ, we’ll find peace in him.
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Code: FGO.C.21.17.e.vp.esv