Articles
What the First Day of the Week Means / Do We Lay It To Heart? / Are You A Workaholic?
What the First Day of the Week Means
(Selected)
- Sunday is a day that I tell God ‘thank you’ for the sacrifice of HIS SON.
- Sunday is a day that I tell myself I will live for the cross of JESUS every day.
- Sunday is a day when I show Jesus that what He SACRIFICED at Golgotha is more important than my job, my family, my desires and my life.
Do We Lay It To Heart?
(by Robert Turner)
Every parent knows the difference in "Do I have to go?" and "Do I get to go?" "Do I have to go to bed?" means the child wants to stay up. "Do I get to go to the show?" means the child wouldn't miss it for anything.
Isn't it strange that some of us will wave those same clear signals with reference to the Lord's services, and not see that we are being just as transparent as our children? "Do we have to go to Bible study?" says the same thing about our desires as it does when voiced by our child. When one asks, "How much must I give?," he is clearly saying, "I do not want to give anything, and would like to know how little will pay the bill." Either that, or he has failed to grasp the most fundamental and essential element in the spirit of acceptable service unto God.
There can be no coming to Christ except we deny or give up self (Matthew 16:24). Translated into the context of "doing" this means we must first want to do all possible (100% committed) to serve the Lord. The proper spirit must motivate the doing, or it is shallow and empty -- may even be an abomination in His sight (Hosea 6:6). God told the priest of Judaism, "If ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name...then will I send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessing; yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart" (Malachi 2:2).
Lay it to heart! That means truly respect God; take Him seriously. The priests had offered polluted bread on the altar (Malachi 1:7); offered blind and lame animals as sacrifice (Malachi 1:8). They said of worship, "What a weariness it is!" (Malachi 1:13-14). To make this current, they said, "Do we have to do or give?" "Do it any old way, just get it over with; we want to go home to the TV." And to top it off, when rebuked, they acted so innocent and said, "When did we ever do that?"
"Oh, that there were one among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle fire on mine altar in vain" (Malachi 1:10). Better to close up shop -- call it off -- than to play at worship, and not "lay it to heart."
Are You A Workaholic?
(by David Maxson)
“The apostles returned to Jesus and told Him all that they had done and taught. And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure, even to eat” (Mark 6:30-31).
Are you a workaholic? Think about these questions:
- Does maintaining a frantic schedule make you feel important?
- Do people often tell you that you're working too much (and do you take that as a complement)?
- Do you find it difficult to say "no" to requests?
- Is it difficult for you to rest and unwind?
- Have you ever talked on the cell phone while playing with the kids?
- When is the last time you went a full day without answering a text or an email?
- After killing yourself over a 60+ hour work week do you still feel guilty about not doing enough?
- Do you resent the fact that your spouse and children complain about you not being around?
- But the critical question is this: Are you working for them or for the Lord?
How do you overcome this addiction? You can't do it on your own. You have to come to the cross. You have to find your self-worth in God's love for you, not in your productivity at work.
So listen to me all you workaholics out there... I'm giving you permission to slow down. Leave some of that work for later. Go home early and just enjoy time with your family. Leave the laundry for tomorrow and take a few extra moments today to meditate or pray.
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