This past June 16th, I
celebrated three years
of being back in Scot-
land and being minis-
ter of the congregation
of St Fergus Parish
Church. It has been a
great three years. I do
not want to be any-
where else, either in
Scotland or the USA.
This is where the Lord
has placed me for the
time being. The issue
of the place where God
wants me is not the is-
sue I really struggle with.
The issue I really struggle with the most is that of God and time, especially how I use my time. I am a poor steward of the time the Lord has given me. I desire to stand before the face of God and give an account of wise stewardship of the time He had given to me to use for God's Kingdom and glory. It is too easy for me to slack off and waste time, focusing on myself rather than the glorious Lord God and His kingdom.
I have also noticed that I run out of steam by Sunday afternoon. By Sunday afternoon after the service at St Fergus Parish Church or by Sunday evening after conducting a service at another church I am visiting, I feel wasted and empty. I admit that there are times I feel far from God. At times it seems to me that He is so far away. At such times I really don't know how I can make it into the coming week, especially to conduct worship services and preach one or two times the following Sunday and do everything else I am called upon to do.
It is in times like this that I sense the LORD God's holiness. Even after delivering two three-day seminars on God's holiness the past two years, I still can't define the holiness of God. All that I can say is that the LORD is holy, holy, holy, and I am not. What I can say about myself is that I am busy, busy, busy. I have been seeing over and over my need for deep rest that only the LORD grants. I am becoming increasingly busy, especially over the past year. I have been hearing over and over the Lord calling me to Sabbath rest. This means that for a twenty-four hour period I shift the focus of my spiritual eyes from my efforts to resting in what God has done on my behalf through Jesus Christ of the Cross and the Empty Tomb.
Daily I face the reality that I get out of tune over a short period of even three or four days. I get out of sync quite quickly. I realise that I am listening to different music and seeing that I am out of step with the LORD. Jesus becomes a fading memory rather than Lord of my life. I lose trust in the Cross and Empty Tomb of Jesus Christ, which is the very heart of the Gospel. I become frustrated with small details of my life and forget about Jesus as the ascended King of kings and Lord of lords who sits at the right hand of the Father almighty. I then have little or no interest in being filled with the promised Holy Spirit and Jesus' promise to return to take His people home. My heart becomes calloused, empty and deadly cold. I rebel against God, seek the glory of my own name, build my own kingdom, and do my own will.
The descriptions of me above reveal why I need a God-ordained and Holy Spirit-inspired Sabbath every seven days. I view Sabbath as much more than a day off. I do need days off, but they are not Sabbath rest days for me. Days of Sabbath rest are necessary, personally constructed, and divinely appointed times that we all need. Sabbath rest is at the very heart of our Sovereign Lord's reality in which we all dwell. The LORD God instituted Sabbath rest for our pleasure and flourishing, and, at the same time, as a way of glorifying and enjoying God. Long have I neglected it and even rebelled against it. I have come to realise how famished and impoverished I am without it.
It seems that the past two or three years, the Holy Spirit has been weaving Sabbath rest into the very fabric of my soul. I still ponder whether a Christian should observe the Sabbath on Saturday or on Sunday, or every seventh day, whatever day that is. But after all this, I have been going with the seventh day as my Sabbath. Saturdays and Sundays are days of work for me. I want a full twenty-four hours of Sabbath rest. Sometimes I start my Sabbath rest when I finish my pastoral duties on Sunday at St Fergus Parish Church for the day. But many times I preach at a Sunday evening service at another church, At those times I begin my Sabbath rest upon giving the final blessing to the congregation. It is important that my Sabbath rest include a seven or eight hour sleep at night.
For this posting I have had to organise my thoughts on Sabbath rest that were churning about within my mind, yet not expressed in any thoughtful way. It has been good for me to struggle with this for a time and get it down on paper, that is, on screen. I hope to write more on Sabbath rest in my next in a posting in the near future.
Blessings to you and yours,
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