Information Related to "A Test for You?"
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Will you pass the test? Are you willing to surrender a portion of your time to build the kind of relationship God wants to enjoy with you?
By now perhaps you've realized that most of mankind has failed to obey God when it comes to His Sabbath day. Much of humanity ignores God altogether and couldn't care less about setting aside a day to honor and worship Him.
Maybe you're one of the many who have been told that the Sabbath command has been transferred from the seventh day of the week, Saturday, to Sunday, the first day of the week. Or maybe you've been told that it's no longer necessary to keep it at all.
Sadly, traditional Christianity has for the most part turned its back on the Fourth Commandment-considering the Sabbath obsolete, fulfilled by Jesus Christ, replaced by Sunday or somehow negated by the dozens of arguments that have been marshaled against it over the centuries. However, we shouldn't be surprised at this widespread disdain for the Sabbath day, since God's Word tells us that "the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God's law" (Romans 8:7, Holman Christian Standard Bible).
What about you? What's your view of God's most ignored commandment in light of the clear instructions in His Word? The simple fact is that nowhere in the Scriptures will you find that the day God established at creation as the proper day of rest and worship has been changed or abolished. Most religious groups don't have a problem with the other nine commandments, but few are willing to submit to God's will on the Fourth.
It's instructive to note what God said when He revealed His Sabbath to the Israelites in Exodus 16 through the miracle of the manna to feed them in the wilderness. Unlike on other days, the people were not to go out to gather on the Sabbath, as there would be none. Rather, they were supposed to gather double the day before to prepare for the Sabbath.
Notice God's intent: "that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not" (verse 4). Indeed, the Sabbath was a test commandment-and remains so today. While the rest of the Ten Commandments are generally acknowledged as right and proper, keeping the Sabbath commandment often brings ridicule and even ostracism. So this command can reveal who is willing to go the distance in obedience to God. Will you?
Rarely will a church organization change its beliefs. But with God's help and guidance, you as an individual can change yours and begin patterning your life according to His instructions. You would do well to ask yourself: If God made the Sabbath holy at creation, if He made it a part of the Ten Commandments, if Jesus Christ, the apostles and the early Church kept it (as the New Testament and history shows they did), doesn't it make sense that He would want you to keep it?
Will you pass the test? Are you willing to surrender a portion of your time to build the kind of relationship God wants to enjoy with you?
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Sidebar to God's Sabbath in Today's World
Origin of article "A Test for You?"
Keywords: Sabbath test commandment
Sabbath commandment: