Keeping the Sabbath holy, according to God’s commandment, requires a spiritual heart transplant. That means being born again. Being born again must involve thorough repentance and conversion. That means knowing that you did wrong, making the necessary efforts to rectify the wrong, and living so that you do not repeat the wrong.
Yes. That typically includes joining a group of likeminded people: likely, a church. But the physical act is not enough. Simply going even to church on the right day is not keeping God’s Sabbath holy, according to His commandment or His will.
The Sabbath is not about a day. The holy Sabbath is all about God. It is about who He is.
There has to be a change in surroundings, a change in diet, a change in lifestyle. There has to be a made-up mind by faith to die to the old way. The old man has to die in order for the new creature to live.
Then live! Abide in Christ and vise-versa. Let Him live in you.
That faith-choice activates the process in which we are transformed. Our minds are renewed. We put off the old. All things become new.
We no longer live, walk, talk, think, or do as a child. We put off childish things. It is a justification by faith: a packed gift involving sanctification and righteousness by faith.
Many make visual changes. They put on this and stop eating that. They do this and do that; but they are still the same old man in heart (mind). Only the outward adorning is changed. This is what it means to be a hypocrite, even though they may not be fully aware of it. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
We have to seek God, while He made be found. He is found early. That early is not simply before the rising of the sun; it is also means right now. It means without delay. It means today. “To day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7, last part). Tomorrow is not promised. Tomorrow you may seek God, and He won’t be found of you. Early is also when He is knocking at your door and you do not put Him off. Instead, you answer Him and welcome Him in.
Before that can happen, we must have our minds made up. We must let go. We must give up governing ourselves. We must let God govern us. We must be willing to give up our will to the will of God.
There was a time that I was one of those—just going to church on the right day. But there was no change in my heart (mind). I was “trying to do,” instead of completely surrendering my will to the will of God. That is why it was so easy for me to return to my old ways. I backslid over and over.
It took God to allow me to literally be broken before I truly sought Him. It was only then that I let Him teach me His ways. I learned from God in His word through His Holy Spirit. When the Spirit of God teaches you, that is it. No more swaying this way and that.
God brought His word to my remembrance. He showed me myself. I was given understanding of His word, although I had read it before.
God taught me His character, what His love is, what it all entails. God broke down His holy Sabbath to me in a way I never before understood. I knew it was deep. I just did not know how deep I would be diving into God.
Not one commandment of God can be kept (observed, obeyed, loved, cherished, protected), without God giving the soul the gift of repentance.
When there is true repentance, sin is forsaken. It will not be justified, not held on to. All is forsaken for Christ. When there is true conversion, the perfecting work of God begins. He restores us unto His image, in which is only light. For in God there is no darkness to hide the sin that God hates.
God showed me His Sabbath is blessed, sanctified, holy. It is like no other of the six days prior to it. The seventh day is blessed and holy.
Your surroundings, your talk, your walk: all are a reflection of the heart all the other six days. One may cover it for awhile. But everything done in darkness eventually comes to light.
When a choice is made, even under the cover of darkness, it may be your final choice.
When one understands the sanctity of the Sabbath, what the Sabbath is and is who it is about, the love of God permeates throughout the soul and the life. God’s love overflows. It opens up the heart (mind) to what God’s love entails, and the soul is transformed moment by moment throughout each day that they die to self, each day that they take up their cross and follow Jesus.
We overcome sin daily by our faith choice. God’s divine power, His grace is engaged by our choice. So it is that our characters are changed by God. What we once loved, we hate. What we once hated, we now love.
The Sabbath is key to our conversion, salvation, because it is who God is. We become changed by what we behold.
Yes, we do what we know is right to do. We choose to, even if we don’t have full understanding, yet. Still, we must cooperate with God. If we refuse, we build the house in vain. We build on sand, not on the Rock Christ Jesus.
One thought on “More Than Just a Day”