Mine

    One of the basis's for our Western culture is the concept of "mine," or ownership. You I am certain know exactly what I am talking about: I own the computer that I am typing on, meaning that it is mine, not yours. If you wish to use it, you must ask me for permission to do so. We would consider it wrong of you to just take my computer and do what you wish with it without my acquiescing to it wrong.

    This is of course not true across cultures. Much of the issues that sparked he Indian Wars that dominated the 19^th century here in America stem from different concepts of ownership. The Native Americans did not believe that anyone could "own" the land whereas Americans did. You can see how this different understanding could spark a major conflict.

    Now this raises the question I wish to address in this post: do we really own anything? Is the concept of private ownership something that the Bible teaches? Or does ownership belong elsewhere?

    Psalms 50 answers this question quite clearly when it says in verse 12, "If I (Yahveh) hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and everything in it." So Yahveh owns everything, which make sense because he is the one who made it all. But if everything is Yahveh's, then logically nothing is ours.

    Jesus tells parable that echoes this point in Matthew 25:14-30. In this story, there is a wealthy man who goes on a long journey and leaves some of his wealth in the hands of his servants or stewards. One man gets five talents, another two, and the third gets one. The first two servants double the wealth of their master while he is away, whereas the third simply buries it in the ground. When the man returns, he is naturally pleased with the first two stewards and quite displeased with the third.

    There are many points that can be drawn from this story, but there is one question I want to ask: whose money was it? Was it the servants' or the master's? The obvious answer is of course that the money is the master's money. His servants are merely caretakers of his wealth while he is away.

    That is us. We are Yahveh's stewards, his caretakers. Everything, the Bible says, is his. This means that nothing is ours. Not our wealth, not our time, not even our lives. Us being Yahveh's servants is something that the Bible writers talk about a lot. In the Old Testament, the prophets and kings talk to Yahveh saying "your servant." They meant it. Paul writes in Romans 6 that as Christians we are "servants to righteousness." Over one book in 1^st Corinthians, he adds that we are not our own, but are bought with a price. The point is that we are not our own, but servants of Yahveh who have been left to take care of his earth.

    Let us take a look back at Creation. Genesis 1 tells us that Yahveh placed us in this world to "rule over it." Ellen White in Patriarchs and Prophets explains that our role in this was to be caretakers of the world, to bend and shape into something pleasing and beautiful to Yahveh. He has always been the overlord of our earth. It is not ours, but his.

    This understanding forces us to go through a major paradigm shift in how we understand the world we live in. For so many of us we have this attitude of there is Yahveh's and there is mine. Think of how we treat tithe, Sabbath, and even our devotions. We give ten percent to Yahveh and the ninety percent is mine to do with as I wish. One day I give to Yahveh and the other six days I do what I want. I give Yahveh thirty minutes of my time in the morning and the rest of the day is mine to do with as I wish.

    But when we understand that everything is Yahveh's and I am merely his steward, then the concept of mine no longer exists. That ten percent, one day, thirty minutes are reminders of who owns the rest, not taxes that we pay before moving on with our lives.    This paradigm shift changes how we approach life and how we live it. The question is no longer "what do I want?". The question is now "what does Yahveh want?".

    Think about devotions. Most of us approach them as a ten-thirty minute exercise we go through in the morning to get some inspiration for the day. After that, the rest of my time is my own. But stop and the think about what devotions mean. Look at the word "devotion." It means "profound dedication" or "earnest attachment to a cause or a person" (dictionary.reference.com). Devotion equals serving, which makes it a way of life, not something we do once a day and are done with it.

    Look at some of the heroes from the Bible. Elijah and Moses, the two greatest prophets of the Old Testament, lived lives devoted to Yahveh. Oddly you do not hear of them spending any time in what we consider "devotions." What you do hear is them constantly asking "What do you want me to do Yahveh?" It was never about them, it was always about Yahveh.

    Enoch is said to have walked with Yahveh right into heaven. The Apostles were constantly being direct by the Spirit. Many of them gave everything they had away because that is what they were directed to do. Others cheerfully died because that is what Yahveh needed them to do. They were not their own, but his.

    Then there is Jesus himself. He claimed ownership over nothing, not even a place to lay his head. Jesus went even so far as to say that his will was not his own. Jesus was completely devoted to Yahveh and his plan (John 8:28,29).

    So there is no such thing as mine because everything is Yahveh's. I am just his steward. This means everything, my wealth, my time, my energy, my very life are his to be used for his glory and benefit and not my own. Therefore, live your life as it ought to be lived: not yours, but devoted completely to the one who truly owns it, Yahveh.

Sabbath Part 3: A day of re’s

    I must start this with a sincere apology. I meant to write this post a week or so after the previous. Now, four months later, I am actually doing so. Though I doubt there are too many of you who have been waiting on the edge of your seats for this, I am sorry for the delay. I have had my reasons, but as to the why, well that would be violating my anti-personal information stance. Besides, for those of you who have been keeping up with this, you probably just want me to get on with it.

    To give a quick recap of the previous two Sabbath posts: the first one dealt with what Sabbath is. In other words, what is the meaning and purpose of Sabbath; what makes it special. The second post spoke about what not to do on Sabbath. We discussed what the Bible means when it says "Do no work on the Sabbath day." This post is about the opposite: what to do on the Sabbath.

    One of the things that immediately jumps out at us when we read about the Sabbath, especially in the most commonly thought of passages (Creation and the Commandments), is the concept of rest. We read in Genesis that Yahveh rested on the Sabbath day. Now we know that of course Yahveh was not resting because he was tired, for he does not get tired, but really celebrating Creation and what he had done. However, it was also a cessation of activity on the part of Yahveh. When the seventh day came, he just stopped working and took a break from it. In doing so, he set a pattern and example for us.

    Skip over a few books to Deuteronomy 5. We have been here before when discussing the Commandments, especially noting the difference between the Sabbath commandments in Exodus 20 and here. One unique difference is a specification that is made in verse 14. Yahveh talks about how the Sabbath is for the maidservant and manservant as well as the owner so that they "may rest, as you do." Rest is central to the Sabbath.

    Let us be honest: life is exhausting. So with that in mind, Yahveh has given us a day to come away from the business of life; a day to recharge. Sabbath is a day for rest.

    So what does this have to do with what to do on the Sabbath? Whatever is restful is something to do on the Sabbath. That is what it is there for. An example would be just yesterday. I have been painting my parent's house, which is a large house and it is quite exhausting. So yesterday, I was totally drained. What did I do? I took a nap and it recharged and refreshed me. That is an example of what to do on the Sabbath; just rest.

    Rest ties directly into the next point, which is restoration. Leviticus 25 is a chapter that is devoted to discussing laws about something called "Sabbath years." The gist of the Sabbath year was that every seven years, the Israelites were to not plant their fields. Just let them lie and live of the previous year's crop. The purpose of these years was to give the land a rest, so that it could restore itself.

    But Yahveh did not leave it at that; he took a step further. Every seven Sabbath years, or essentially 50 years, there was the year of Jubilee. This was a special year, a second consecutive Sabbath year that was a resetting of things. Debts were cancelled, slaves were freed, and lands were returned to their ancestral owners. It was a year of celebration, but also a year of restoration.

    Let us look at Jesus life. There are about a half dozen miracles that Jesus performed on Sabbath that are specifically mentioned as happening on Sabbath. In fact, general when we here about something that Jesus did on Sabbath, he was healing people. Specifically, he was restoring people. For Jesus, restoration was an essential part of the Sabbath.

    So what restores you? What resets and refocuses your life? Is it taking a hike in the woods? Or maybe it is spending special time with friends and/or family. Perhaps it is just being alone fore once. Whatever it is for you that restores your body and soul, do it. That is what the Sabbath is for.

    Sabbath is also for reconnection with each other. It is for meeting with each other and being a blessing for one another. Think of what Jesus did on the Sabbath. In the above paragraphs, we see that Jesus would heal people on the Sabbath. Not only was he restoring them, he was reconnecting with them.

    Also the gospel of Luke records that Jesus had a habit of going to the synagogue on Sabbath. Remember that Jesus was a Jew and the Jewish form of church was the synagogue. Jesus essentially had a habit of going to church on the Sabbath. Why? To meet with and reconnect with fellow believers.

     The apostles in the New Testament Church did the same. Luke writes in Acts that the believers continued to meet together. Wherever Paul went, he sought out synagogues and met with the Jews on Sabbath (until he got kicked out). If there was not a synagogue, like at Philippi, he would find a place where Jews or Christians were meeting on Sabbath (Acts 16:11-15). The author of Hebrews exhorted his readers to not give up meeting with each other. Meeting together, especially on Sabbath, was important to the early church.

    This is why we go to church on Sabbath. At church, we reconnect with each other to encourage and strength and support each other. Life is stressful, especially for the Christian. Church becomes a time and place to get away from it all and just hang out with each other. We do it on Sabbath because this is what Yahveh made the Sabbath for.

    Ultimately, however, the Sabbath is all about Yahveh. In Hebrews 4, the author likens rest in Christ like a Sabbath rest. Matthew records Jesus saying that we should come to him and he will give us rest. The rest of Sabbath is resting in him.

    We find our true restoration in Christ as well. When talking with Nicodemus in John 3, Jesus tells the rabbi that in order to enter the kingdom of Heaven, we must be born again. This is like having our lives restarted, reset, or restored. Paul takes this a step further in 2 Corinthians 5:17 when he says that in Christ, we are "new creations." Through Jesus, we are restored. Sabbath is a celebration of this restoration.

    At the center of the Sabbath is reconnecting with Yahveh. The day is for us to meet with him. It was Adam and Eve did in the Garden. It is what we are to do now. After all, it is his day. Time and time again the Bible refers to the Sabbath as "his" day or the Lord's day. The Commandments call it his Sabbath. In Isaiah, Yahveh says "my hold day." It is not about us, but him. It is, as we have talked about before, the day we celebrate him.

    So you want to keep the Sabbath holy? You want to do, as Jesus said, "good" on the Sabbath? What gives you rest, what gives you restoration, what reconnects with others and with Yahveh? Ultimately, what do you do to celebrate Yahveh. Whatever that is for you, do it. For that is what it means to keep the Sabbath day holy.