Saturday, March 28: Luke 6- Using God's gift for bad.

I found myself mulling over the Luke’s opening about Jesus and the Sabbath. Yes, the Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandment Law, but like all of the Ten Commandments, they are God’s gift to us. Think about the Sabbath for a moment. What are people to do/not do?

No work… rest. Labor unions, since they came into existence, have worked for shorter work weeks and more time off. Humm, isn’t that what the Sabbath did? It said no more than a 6 day work week. Everyone in Israel should get at least the Sabbath off from work. Think about that. What is bad about that????

Connection with God. Again, is this a bad thing? Israel was a nation founded on God. They believed God called them into existence and that God sustained them. Is it really horrible to take some time on your day of rest to thank and praise your provider, God?

Connection with others. If you are not going to work, what would be the natural thing to do? Don’t think too hard…connect with family, friends and those close to you. That sounds like a good thing, too.

And yet, people focus on the rules. They add human rules to God’s simple outline and turn something good into something restricting and bad. Somehow religious people perverted God’s intention to the point that a healer who only has to speak a word was chastised for healing a person on the Sabbath… really?

And what happened back then still happens. We pervert God’s good gifts and misuse them for bad.

The wonder of marital sex morphs into “50 Shades of Grey”

Music, which stirs the soul, encourages and remembers… becomes a platform to laud drugs, violence and sex.

Medical advancements –a gift from God –is perverted into poison gas and other WMD’s

God forgive us… forgive us for perverting the things You gave for good.

Lord, forgive us, forgive us for perverting Your wonderful world and Your many wonderful gifts. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us. Amen.

 

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