Pastor Jay //

Do you ever feel like the day slips by before you get much done? Maybe we can learn something helpful from the Jewish calendar about how to make the most of a day. In the Jewish calendar, a day does not begin at midnight. It begins at either sunset or when three medium-sized stars should be visible. Two of the main problem areas for people who have trouble with their schedules are discipline and planning. Often for harried people, it is helpful to realize that the day is over and a new start will begin the next morning. It might be that the Jewish concept of a day would help. If we could have as a mindset that the next day begins at sunset, it might help us to end the current day and be better prepared for the day to come. Planning experts recommend that individuals write out a plan or schedule for each day. If that planning could begin on the previous evening, it might encourage us to do other important activities like getting a good night’s rest or choosing what you will wear. It may even help us sleep better because we are less worried about the next day’s events.

This same plan could also help in making Sunday’s a better day for worship. Often, we think of Saturday night as a time to stay up late. If we do not begin preparing for worship on the evening before, it will probably cause us to not appreciate the day that we give for worship. Jesus had some things to say about the Sabbath. He challenged the conventional wisdom of that time by breaking some of the religious laws that the leaders had created. These laws were not God’s laws, but man-made. When they questioned Jesus, he made two statements. One statement was that the Sabbath was made for humankind and not the other way around (Mark 2:27). His other response was that He was the “Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8). What he is telling us is that the Sabbath was made for our benefit and that, ultimately, He has the final say on what the rules are. The word Sabbath [sabbat] is closely connected to the Hebrew word that means “to stop, cease, or keep” [sabat]. God gave us the example of resting when He rested on the seventh day after six days of creation.

Eph 5:15-16 “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk–not as unwise people but as wise– making the most of the time, because the days are evil.”