| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Enjoy the journey by redeeming the time” Our Bible verse for today: “Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.” Psalm 90:12 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Honor God by living in the moment” I love Mark Buchanan’s wise observation that Sabbath is intended by God to be more than just a day of the week, but an orientation for all of life. To understand what he meant by that we need to think for a moment about what exactly Sabbath is. Sabbath has a dual purpose. It is both a time to rest from the labors and pressures of life, and it’s a time set aside to praise, worship, and honor God. It’s easy to understand that we should carve out one day from seven for the dual purposes of being extra attentive to God and also resting from our labors; but in what way does that then become an orientation for all of life? We surely can’t be resting from our labors all the time; and as much as we would like it to be so, we aren’t able to give God all of our attention all the time. Moses gives us a glimpse of the answer in Psalm 90:12. There he alludes to the wisdom of valuing the present, because the present is all we really do have. Life is brief. The days pass quickly. The past is past and the future is but a hope, all we really have is today, right now, this moment. So, what a shame if we were to fail to appreciate and enjoy the present because we’re stuck in the past or preoccupied with concerns about the future. The past is gone. Let it go. The future is important, but not as important as the present. The present is here, but there might not be a future for us. You could die tomorrow. Every moment we have is a gift of life from God. We honor God and bring Him joy when we fully embrace each moment, paying attention to it, appreciating it, giving Him thanks for it. If a Sabbath day is both a time of rest and a time of honoring God, then a Sabbath orientation is a life that is lived at a relaxed pace and embracing every moment as a gift from God. All of this reminds me of my favorite quote about the value of time. I’ve shared it with you before. It’s from Benjamin Franklin and in contemporary language it reads, “Do you value your life? Then value your time. Because time is the stuff life is made of.” That’s what Moses was teaching in Psalm 90:12, value your time because it’s the stuff life is made of. We honor God when we live in the moment. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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