Sabbath!

January 1, 2024 Monday Message:

Mark 2:27 NLT: “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.”

Worshiping the Lord is important. The Sabbath is important. But the honoring the Sabbath should not take precedence over doing what Jesus said to do. People raised in ritual and tradition often get this wrong. Jesus is the final word on honoring the Sabbath.

To love others is more important than religious rituals. (There, I said it!) Showing kindness is more important than tradition. “Is it good, is it right, it it honest, is it fair – should we be doing this thing?” Those are questions to ask yourself any time, including on the Sabbath. Be prepared to do the next right thing.

Pretend you’re driving home from church and you see a mom with 3 kids and a flat tire. Should you stop and help? Always. Help change the tire if you’re qualified, or at least pull out your cell phone and call AAA. Should we be doing work like that on the Sabbath? If you’re showing God’s love to your neighbor, the answer is “yes!”

I used to attend a church with a lot of babies, and sometimes babies can get fussy at inconvenient times such as during a church service. What happened was that a different mom (or grandma or sometimes a dad) would take baby to the lobby until it settled down, giving the parent respite. We called them “pass-around babies!” And children always want to sit with their friends at church, so it was challenging for a newcomer to know which children matched up with which parents! It’s OK to help watch someone else’s kids, even during church. After all, it’s one big church family of God!

So honor God on the Sabbath and do the next right thing!

A little housekeeping... This marks the 21^st year of the Monday Message, and the 5^th year of daily messages. It’s OK to share these messages, or to forward them to friends. If they’d like, we can add them to our distribution lists. And if you’d like to be removed, just ask the person who sent you this message. We don’t want to burden anyone. I know several people who maintain their own forwarding lists, so we have a lot of helpers! The daily message is also posted on my personal Facebook page, and on Jesus in the City’s facebook page. Believers respond from all over the world. Mexico, India, Pakistan and Ethiopia come up often, along with many in the US.

So love the Lord as we begin this new year, and be blessed!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship