9 February | Youth
«Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation.» Leviticus 23:3
There is a special power that only manifests when people come together with a common purpose. God respects your individuality, but He has decided to grant an additional blessing to those who put aside their differences and come together to worship Him on the day established since creation for this purpose. Therefore, God opened a space in time called Sabbath, capable of reaching all people in all geographies, times and cultures, so that no one would feel excluded. On this day, more than any other, we enter into a spiritual battle against a malicious and cunning enemy.
Therefore, the Sabbath is a day of the week when the conflict is most intense. It is the hardest day to get out of bed, to leave the house, to be on time, to want to go, to avoid disagreements, to stay focused. Aware that “the Sabbath was made for man,” we feel on this day the poisonous temptation to think that we, and not God, are the center of the Sabbath. Although the Sabbath is a gift from the Creator to humanity, we tend to want to benefit from this gift in an egocentric and selfish way. Established to enjoy a life-giving relationship with our Creator and with others, we often fall into the temptation of thinking that the Sabbath hours were made to satisfy our personal tastes and interests.
Every time I think about it, I (Júlio) remember the day I preached to a snake. It was in Opelika, in rural Alabama. When the sermon was over, the church members found a five-foot-long serpent hidden behind a pew where some children, sitting innocently, had watched the service until they saw it slither between the pews.
I feel that, sometimes, there is a serpent among us spreading the poison of its temptations against the Sabbath. Many let their guard down during that day and end up maintaining a spirit that is not compatible with Sabbath sacredness. The Sabbath was originally intended as an opportunity to think about God and others. Too often, however, we spend these sacred hours engaged in activities that do not match the spirit of the Sabbath day. Think about how you have spent your Sabbaths. What has been the center of your thoughts? God's will or your interests?