Idle Worship
Make rest an activity. The commands to Israel about the Sabbath, while not binding, do communicate God’s concern that His people rest.
Make rest an activity. The commands to Israel about the Sabbath, while not binding, do communicate God’s concern that His people rest.
Because of our sin nature our default mode is self-sufficiency and independence from God. Rather than allowing His power—the power of Christ’s Holy Spirit who lives in every believer—to replace our weakness, we naturally try to handle things on our own.
Who had more of God than the Israelites in Moses’ day? But they were ungrateful, hardened, and faithless. Their Great Deliverer, in their eyes, had become a cruel taskmaster.
Erosion is never sudden. It happens over time as you change your standards and accept things once rejected. Erosion can happen in anyone’s life.
Temptations are dangerous because they invite you to get in over your head. And if you accept the invitation you’ll find all your energy is spent just trying to stay afloat. When it comes to temptation the best plan of attach is a hasty retreat.
Pastor Chuck Swindoll draws from the account of the Israelites’ Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Supernatural guidance, deliverance, and provision could not even soften their hearts.
A believer who wades through God’s favour and God’s blessing and God’s bounty day after day, week after week, year after year can begin to court the dangers of erosion. How? Things get to be predictable. They become routine. You grow cynical.
Temptation is always present, no matter who you are. It knows no barriers and doesn’t play favourites. When you’re tempted don’t linger; determine in your heart to resist.
It's at the cross of Jesus Christ that life begins. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ make up the most critical event in history—one worthy of our pause, our pondering, and our praise.
In that single word rests a whole new world beckoning our participation. Death has been defeated. Newfound meaning and joy replace the minute-after-minute-after-minute monotony of ceaseless sweating and striving...all because God is now at hand!