Amos 8:5-7 - You
can't wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so
you can get back to cheating the helpless. You measure out your grain in false
measures and weigh it out on dishonest scales. And you mix the wheat you sell with chaff swept
from the floor! Then you enslave poor people for a debt of one piece of silver
or a pair of sandals. Now the LORD has
sworn this oath by his own name, the Pride of Israel : "I
will never forget the wicked things you have done!
Amos saw a basket of ripe fruit in another vision from
God. He was told that the people of
Israel were ripe for punishment. He called out the greedy merchants that could
not wait for the worship ceremonies to end so they could resume their crooked
businesses. The money they could make
meant more to them than the time they could have spent praying and worshiping the
one who allowed them to have a business in the first place.
My Life Application Bible posed a question….Do I stop at
least one day of the week to worship…or does working consume me so much that I
don’t ever stop to say thank you to God for the provisions I do have? Hard question to answer…I am privileged to
have a job that traditionally has weekends off.
I can rest and worship on Sunday with no problem. The choice is easy for me…it provides one of
my favorite times of fellowship with others who love God.
But we live in a world where many are employed in jobs that
require them to work while we are at a traditional church service. Restaurants….gas stations….grocery stores …even
department stores….are all open on the weekend…some 24/7 so we can shop at the
most convenient times for our own needs. I even help fuel the need for many of
these jobs by choosing to eat out on Sunday after I worship…or stop quickly at
the grocery store for something….or buy my gas….or shop for a new outfit after
church.
Let me really go out on a limb here and ask a bold question…that
even I don’t know if I could do. What if
all the believers….all of us that can worship on Sunday…stop fueling the need
for restaurants…or gas stations…or stores of all kinds to be open on Sunday?
What if we all organized ourselves to the point that we did not need any of
those services…and all those people who have to work…suddenly found that Sunday
was a day off for them…cause business was so slow it did not pay the place to
stay open that day.
Could we change the way the world operates if we cared that
much to keep the Sabbath Holy…choosing to rest….and worship only? I think we might make a small dent in it anyway. Perhaps
we could encourage everyone to go one more step…and have more business owners
take a stand and close on Sunday just because they choose too. If more businesses like Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A would openly proclaim their
need to worship outweighs the need to be open and make a profit….maybe it would
start a new trend.
Father…thank you for the reminder that you proclaimed long
ago that I should keep the Sabbath Holy.
It is a day that you placed in my schedule for me to rest…and for me to spend
some extra special time with you in worship and praise of what you have done in
my life. Forgive me for forgetting that
others need that special time with you too….and fueling the need for them to
work…and miss out on the opportunity to worship in a corporate way. Help me to reorganize my week and plan ahead…and
make it a special day of rest …and not ask others to work on my behalf anymore.
Amen.
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