In today's devotional, we paid attention to 2 major themes; the purpose of the sabbath, and giving all of our burdens to Jesus. Why did God give the whole of creation the sabbath and mandated the children of Israel to rest on that day? What did Jesus mean when he said; "Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 NLT.
The sabbath had 2 major focuses, yes it was a day of rest so that everyone downed tool, but the primary focus was that people would take one day to stopped doing something for themselves and focus instead on God and other people. It was a day to meditate on the word of God, to worship God. It was a day to show mercy to others and help those in need. It was not a day to go round with sabbath lieutenants to be catching those you felt were not fully keeping the sabbath.
Lastly, Jesus asks us to let go of the load and burden we are carrying and receive his own yoke, become joined to him, he said, we will find rest this way.
