It’s Sunday Again: Sabbathing

For 40+ years, I had a job almost every Sunday. I no longer have a weekly preaching responsibility as a local preacher, but most Sundays I still have a job, an obligation to preach or teach somewhere. But over the last year, I have had a few Sundays “off”. My first task has been to learn the new rhythms. How does one approach the Lord’s Day in “resting” mode? One thing I have learned: my Sabbathing rhythm is not to sleep in until the last moment possible and then hurry off to church.

Here is some of what I have learned–things that makes my Sundays special for me in my relationship with God.

  • Sabbathing is best understood as a night and day activity. My best Sabbathing begins during the evening of the night before. The Bible is right when it declares the evening and morning cycle. Effective Sabbathing seldom begins on Sunday morning.
  • Limiting “normal” activities enhances Sabbathing. Knowing God’s presence is made easier with changes of routines and elimination of busyness. For me, this ideally begins on Saturday evening or night.
  • Sabbathing can be helped by “spiritual” activities, including fellowship, conversations, leisurely meals, and unhurried lives which include an awareness of God.
  • Sabbathing is an internal reality and attitude and it is easier when one is rested. Friday night and Saturday are the weekend–Sunday is the first day of the week. Sabbathing is not necessarily a lack of activity–it is the calming of the body and soul.
  • Although prayer is a part of life every day and at any time, a time of more frequent prayer is helpful in bringing tranquility to the soul.
  • Reading the Bible is good, but leisurely meditation and contemplation bring the word alive in my heart and soul.

    • Jan and I get up about the same time on Sunday as on other days. We try to avoid intense activity. We seek to focus our spiritual attention. Even writing this blog has been calming today as I analyze my life in God’s gracious presence. Because he is at work, I do not have to be concerned today with life’s needs or opportunities. God and I will handle those things together this week–only let me this day find rest for my soul.

    Carpe Diem

    Seize the moment! How do we do that? What activity or activities represent a wise use of our time? How do we balance life? How do we establish priorities?
    I remember a sermon I heard a long time ago. It was based on the last few verses of Matthew 6. Seek the kingdom and his righteousness first. Today is sufficient, tomorrow will have its own problems.
    Today is all we have. We have today–yesterday is gone and the record cannot be rewritten. Tomorrow is only a promise today. “This is the day….”
    Today is all we need. Today we can seek the kingdom and righteousness, regardless of how full our lives may be. Everything God desires of us today can be done today. No need for procrastination. Do it today.
    Today is all we can handle. Some people drive themselves crazy (figuratively, or even literally) by worrying about yesterday or worrying about tomorrow. Tomorrow will bring its own unique set of challenges and problems. Handle today and tomorrow will be easier. Handle today and yesterday’s difficulties will fade.

    This is the day! (Psalm 118:24)

    What Will You Do Today?

    What will you do today? The answer to the question is the stuff of poems. I found at least seven different versions in a quick web search–and did not find the particular poem I was looking for.
    What will I do today? Here is the answer I would like to give every day, along with a mixture of things I know are on my “to do” list for today.

    Today I will begin with God. He will be among my first thoughts of the day–and among the last as I pillow my head.
    Today will consider others and bring them before God’s throne.
    Today I will listen to God–I will make an effort to find him, in the world about me and in his word.
    Today I will fill the inboxes of those who share ministry and missions with me. I will write and encourage them, I will share information, not just to fix their inboxes, but to help us move ahead in the grand work of God.
    Today I will spend some time thinking about the future–to check that God’s will is directing me.
    Today I will do something God wants me to do that I would rather not do–just to prove that he is Lord.
    Today I will improve on where I was yesterday, in at least some small way.

    I challenge you to write your own list. What will you do today?

    Daily Devotionals: A Reminder

    The time is always right to develop good habits. Earlier this year, I began publishing a daily devotional guide that will guides a person through the New Testament in one year. The guide is unique in that it provides readings for only five days each week, allowing a person two days each week to catch up or pursue other devotional readings, for example, in the Psalms or Proverbs. It is hoped that this approach will allow time to do the suggested Bible reading, even during busy weeks. Another unique aspect of the guide is that the user can choose to read either the entire chapter or only the text provided–the guide can be used with Bible in hand or simply as a daily devotional. Finally, the guide is unique in that a diligent effort is made to reflect the overall content of the daily chapter, and not just a brief commentary on one verse or a limited paragraph.
    This week’s devotionals begin the reading of Luke’s Gospel (tomorrow), and provide a good starting point for a Bible reading project that would conclude this time next year.
    A link to the page is continuously available on the top menu bar (pull down menu under articles) or on the right menu bar. Or one can follow this link and bookmark the page: Daily Devotionals.

    It’s Sunday Again: Sunday Morning Habits

    It is amazing–changes in one’s life do not change one’s habits–at least not very rapidly, perhaps never. I have arisen early on Sunday for most of my life. As a youth, I was able to sleep in a little on Saturday (but not very long–there were always jobs to be done), but Sunday never! Mother insisted that we get up and get ready for church.
    During most of my college, Sundays not only meant a sermon preparation (or two) to review one more time, there was often a fairly long drive attached to the preaching appointments.
    In local ministry, I soon came to relish the moments before the house erupted in hustle and bustle. I learned the rhythm of the early part of the Lord’s Day–reflections, thinking, meditating, reading Scripture. Sunday’s mornings have come to be something very special. Special because they are seldom hurried. Special because the early moments are reserved for God more than on other days. Special because a heart prepared on the mountainplace has a lot more to contribute to the fellowship and assembly of God’s people. Special because of the sense of separateness–just me and God, the noise of the world awakening is delayed on this day.
    I feel blessed that early Sunday morning God-time is a habit in my life after 60+ years. The way I spend that time has changed. At home when I was growing up, it was Mom preparing a special Sunday morning breakfast, sit quietly (so you don’t mess up your good clothes), listen to Christian music. Later the meals were less special but the study and meditation time increased. These days, it is a great cup of coffee and time for meditation, prayer, reading, and anticipation of a day that will be made more special by shared worship and fellowship–regardless of where happen to be geographically among God’s wonderful people.

    Christian Leadership: Ad-ministration

    Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because they want to do it.” He was right on several counts. Leadership is an art. Leaders facilitate the work or action of others. Leaders should be visionaries who are able to see things that need to be done. Leadership involves motivation so other willingly and gladly participate.
    Christian leadership is all of these things–and more. Consider Paul’s description of leadership in Ephesians 4:11-16. Christian leadership involves equipping or preparing others for effective involvement in the tasks to be done. Christian leadership facilitates the ministry of others. This is ad-ministration at its best–helping others move toward ministry. Christian leadership envisions the big picture–the work that needs to be done, the way the group can best function together, the needs of each individual, the good of the group as it bonds together and is built up, and the good of each individual as he or she reaches full potential.
    Here is another definition: “Christian leadership is the art of ‘ad-ministry’–helping a group of people (Christians) become ready and capable to do the things that should be done so that those benefiting from the ministry of the group, the group itself, and each individual in the group become what they want, and what God wants.”

    Short descriptions such as this are by nature only part of the story. What would you add?

    NLB of Oklahoma

    This morning I will finish recording another DVD series for the New Life Behavior Network of Oklahoma. This study series is especially important and promising–it is a “Seeker Bible Study Series” for those who have questions about how to respond to God. The series treats basic Bible subjects–God, Jesus, Bible, sin, repentance, grace, faith, baptism, obedience, church, commitment, discipleship, and last things. I encourage you to pray regularly on behalf of prison work around the world.
    This DVD series marks the 9th I have recorded–118 individual teaching sessions, with both videos and printed lessons. These are used in Bible classes and can also be broadcast on prison television systems. New Life Behavior does a first printing of 300 copies of each lesson, but an extra study sheet is often attached or available so that two people in the same cell can use the lesson material. With perhaps as many as 500 students (on average) receiving materials and participating in these studies inside prison walls, one can see that the potential of this project is great. The video series recorded to this point represent many hours of potential Bible study, even before considering those who may watch on TV. Generally, baptisms are permitted only periodically in the prisons (often monthly), but dozens are being baptized as a result of the efforts and teaching of New Life Behavior of Oklahoma.
    [This is an update of my blog of February 24. Here is a link to the previous blog: Update: New Life Behavior.]

    Planting Mission Churches: Understanding the Process

    Christians can rejoice in the increasing emphasis on planting or establishing new churches, especially in mission areas. New churches generally grow more rapidly than older churches; they are more open to new members and that openness makes them attractive to seekers. New churches also have a greater potential to escape traditions that tend to anchor the church in a culture and worldview that is either passing or is already gone. The down side is that the openness of new churches can also diminish ties to the healthy biblical teachings and traditions of the past.
    This latter factor points to the need to establish healthy, biblical leadership as part of the church planting process. Students of missions churches sometimes cite the goal of establishing self-governing, self-sustaining, self-duplicating churches. The sequence of these goals is important. Few newer churches become self-supporting before they are self-governing. When a church is not self-governing church, members often perceive that contributions are merely going to minister or pastor. A church that has not developed a self-governance system must be overseen from without–most often by a ‘sponsoring’ church that may be a long way away, without understandings of the local culture and context, and often incapable of communication because of language barriers. At worst, the church that has not developed indigenous leaders is governed by one individual who often receives his “support” from a source outside the local church.
    For these and other reasons, self-governance is an essential factor in effective church planting, and the development of indigenous leaders is imperative. Developing effective local leadership must be seen as the first step toward a fully-functioning, healthy church. Effective, biblical leaders will lead the local church to become self-supporting. Such leaders will lead the local church to look beyond itself in a spirit of evangelism and outreach. Biblical leaders will help the local church escape provincialism and see a world without Jesus, focusing the need to be involved in additional church planting efforts so that the church becomes self-duplicating or self-propogating.

    It’s Sunday Again: Wisdom

    Fourteen months ago, I “retired” from full-time local pulpit ministry. Over the last year, I have spent a lot of time reflecting about the nature of life.
    Jan and I have entered a new phase of life–a time when we have the privilege (luxury) of picking and choosing our activities, applying our hearts to wisdom, doing those things that matter the most to us. The absence of a regular daily schedule has not slowed our lives–in fact, it appears that life may have accelerated, but in new and fresh ways, with new opportunities.
    Today I will preach. I have retired from “full time preaching” but this is my seventh Sunday of preaching in the last two months.
    This is also Memorial Day weekend. We are remembering those who have gone before us. All are in the procession that leads to the grave, and one day we will no longer be among the living. We will be among those whose lives are a part of history. How does one measure life? What are we giving our lives for? When all is said and done, what have we been about? What is life? What is the goal of life? There are many ways to summarize our goals and dreams. Here is one version: Live a life of wisdom!

    Wisdom enables the authentic life and avoids shadows and illusions. Wisdom avoids self-deception. Wisdom makes effective choices; wisdom identifies real priorities and discards the artificial, fleeting priorities of the urgent. Hearts applied to wisdom understand what really matters.

    Tomorrow I may summarize the goal of my life in different words, but today my prayer will be: Lord, give me wisdom! The Bible teaches that such a prayer will be honored by God (James 1:5).