WORTH REMEMBERING by Kay Kalousek

“Remember the Sabbath day...”  Exodus 20:8 (NIV)

“How could she forget me?”

The question kept racing through my mind as I wandered along the pick-up area of LAX, dragging my heavy suitcase behind.  I had been waiting for almost an hour and was starting to feel a little desperate.  This was years ago, before the age of cell phones and I couldn’t get in touch with anyone.

No one wants to be forgotten and that is why we erect statues, monuments, and memorials to commemorate people and events that are considered important.  So it makes sense that even though eight of the Ten Commandments are phrased negatively:  “You shall not….”, God chose to phrase the commandment about the Sabbath in a positive way: “Remember the Sabbath day….”  God’s instruction in the fourth commandment is for us to take positive action by remembering the Sabbath day.  Then to emphasize the point even further, God provides an explanation about why the Sabbath day is to be remembered: “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:11)

So when we remember the Sabbath and keep it holy we honor God for creating the world and show respect and gratitude for His creation.  God doesn’t want us to forget Him or what He has done!

However, as Christians, remembering the Sabbath isn’t just remembering God’s creation of the universe as a past event.  The Sabbath calls us to remember God’s ongoing creation through His Holy Spirit who daily creates us anew in His image.  This is the manifestation of God’s creative power in the present.

Finally, as Christians, remembering the Sabbath enables us to remember that the same God who created the world in the beginning, will restore and re-create the world when he returns to claim His people.  This is the manifestation of God’s creative power in the future.

So when we remember the Sabbath and become conscious of and engaged with the continuum of God’s creative power past, present, and future, we become part of the story of creation, redemption, and salvation.

God gave us the Sabbath so we don’t forget Him and what He has done.  And that is something worth remembering!

K.K.

Think about it:  Do I remember the Lord of Sabbath as much as I remember the Sabbath day?