Burning Out On Life

Principle number 4, OBSERVE HIS DAY

What do you do to unwind? For me it has changed over the years based on my interests. When I was in high school, I would play basketball until the grip was worn off the ball. In college I would watch movies and order pizza with my friends. As a young married couple my wife and I would organize our house (yeah we are weird) and today I really enjoy being with my family. I wonder how many people would put going to church on that list.

Through all of those days gone by one thing has remained a constant in my life, a desire to seek Jesus with everything in my heart and mind. I have had to make some really tough decisions in life as I am certain you have had to as well. In each fork in the road the path I took was a result of my singular pursuit of Jesus and His wisdom and plan for my life. He is my primary passion, my “one thing!”
Out of curiosity I did a little search through the Bible of the phrase "one thing". There were four instances in very familiar passages that give great insight into what our primary passion is to be.
In Psalm 27:4, David prays, "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and seek him in his holy temple."
In Luke 10:41-42, after Martha urges Jesus to reprimand her sister for leaving all the work to her and choosing instead to sit at His feet, Jesus replies, "Martha, Martha... you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her."
In Luke 18:22, the rich young ruler, after asking what he must do to inherit eternal life, and hearing Christ's question in response about the ten commandments, assures Jesus that he has kept each of the commandments since he was a boy. Hearing this, the Lord looks at him, knowing that the ruler has fallen into the classic pitfall of wealth by allowing his possessions to possess him, and says: "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me."
In Philippians 3:10-13, Paul asserts that his one, overarching ambition is to know Christ. He says, "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining to what is ahead, I press on toward [that] goal."
One would think this is standard operation for a Christian, that through the up’s and downs of life we would find a steady flow in our relationship with Jesus. But given church attendance rates today you might question if we are really following Him. Now does going to church equate to a person’s relationship with God? No and Yes. No because church attendance is not an indicator of our love for God, but it is a result of it. It shows how much of our lives we are willing to surrender to Him. He told us and modeled for us that Sabbath observation is standard operating procedure for believers. So why do we put it in a list of optional weekly “to-do’s”? Is observing the Sabbath really optional?
See the Sabbath is actually there for our benefit, it was made for us to recharge, revise and refocus. The 4th commandment is sandwiched between the first three principles on how to have a relationship with God and the next 6 principles on how to have relationships with others. How we observe the Sabbath shows us how we put the two together. Many Christians have left the Sabbath all together and rarely attend church either.
John Maxwell says that “people join organizations but leave people.” Its funny how people can be seem to be so spiritual but avoid people all together. They tell me that they are “doing fine” in their walk with God. And some have even told me that they have a better relationship with God when they are not in church. Funny how they pull away from others and think it somehow grows their relationship with God, it never does.
I have also noticed people stay away from church because they are avoiding God all together and church is the first place they would expect to find Him, so it’s the last place they will show up. To me that makes more sense than the previous situation I have observed.
Sure there is other ways one can observe the Sabbath that is not directly connected to going to church on Sundays. But church attendance is a fundamental element to living out that pursuit of “one thing” just as knowing your “A, B, C’s” is fundament to reading, writing and speaking the English language.
I think this is why church is so powerful and so messy. It’s the intersection of where people and God cross paths and where people often collide with other people. It’s where the first 3 commandments are proven in the way we handle the last 6 commandments. My old pastor used to say “all of God’s work in our individual lives is not verified until it is demonstrated in a group of people.” So true!!!
(1 John 4:20) “If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”
I think it’s the mess that we often avoid in church that directly points to our own issues before God. So it might be a pastor that hurt you, a place of service you expect to be filled but no one seems to care, a Christian friend that betrayed you. All of it is the Holy Spirit screaming into your life on where you need surrender. And it often happens on the Sabbath. When we avoid the Sabbath and avoid going to church we avoid the vital connection of our relationship with God and our relationship with others and it will always take more than it gives.
Best to obey God and His commands, remember they are not burdensome, instead they give life.