[By Elizabeth Prata]

There’s one thing we’re all good at

Posted on May 31, 2017May 31, 2017 by elizabethprata

Sinning. Every human on the planet, no matter his or her age, is good at sinning. Hands down. Me included.

Look at this example from scripture.

Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. (Matthew 23:16-21).

What this section of scripture is about is Jesus pronouncing woes upon the Pharisees. The Pharisees were one of the two ruling classes in Israel, the Sadducees being the other. The Pharisees had twisted the faith into something unrecognizable, laying incredible burdens down on the people, (like over 600 laws!) failing to minister to sinners, making sons of hell twice as worse as they were, and being total hypocrites. When Jesus pronounced His many woes upon them, this particular set of woes involved swearing by the LORD and lying.

The Pharisees has cunningly devised a way to appear to swear by the Lord but be able to get out of it later. They THOUGHT that if they swore an oath by the temple and not by the gold of the temple, they could break their oath later with no repercussions. Or swear by the altar and not the gift on the altar, or by heaven and not by the throne in heaven. “It depends on what the meaning of is is.”

Photo Pixabay.com. cc.

Look how finely they were splitting hairs! They were dead wrong, as we read Jesus’ excoriation of their sly practices. All the hairs matter.

But you see how we as humans excel at sinning and rationalizing our sin. We’re really, really good at it. “It wasn’t that bad.” “It wasn’t a real promise.” “No one keeps promises anymore.” “I’m not gossiping, I’m relating a prayer request.” “It wasn’t as bad as that other guy’s sin over there.” “No one saw.”

All rationalizations are simply self-justifications. And there is only One who justifies, Jesus. Our pitiful attempts to justify ourselves when we sin are just evil blasphemies and vain delusions. When we transgress God’s laws, we injure ourselves and dig ourselves deeper into the pit we will eventually fall into.

As I go through the day I ask Jesus to show me where I am sinning but rationalizing it away. Where I am too ignorant or blind to see my own sin. I ask Him to help me sin less against Him tomorrow than I did today, by the Spirit’s conviction and strength. I am not only the Chief of Sinners, I am Queen of Rationalizations! Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. I pray mine and your walk grows purer with each day and each step. Paul was so wise to pray this for his people:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, (Ephesians 1:18).

Lord open the eyes of my heart so I may see and repent of the sins that lurk there.
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit. (Proverbs 16:2).

I need Your eyes, Lord.

discernment, Uncategorized

An exhortation about false teaching from Jeremiah

Posted on May 30, 2017May 30, 2017 by elizabethprata

It says in 2 Timothy 3:13, evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse. The study note for that verse explains that “all the dangerous movements of the false teachers (cf. vv. 1-9) will become increasingly more successful until Christ comes. Cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:11).”

This is a sobering thought.

Very sobering.

False teachers are a scourge and a plague. They are worse than locusts who sweep across the field and leave only broken and inedible crumbs in their wake. False teachers destroy souls. False prophets bring Jesus into disrepute and they steal His glory. Lest we believe that those who follow these false teachers and prophets are helpless victims, they are not. Followers of these locusts love to have it so. They actually heap up the false teachers to themselves. (2 Timothy 4:3).

False teachers have been around since even before the world was formed and satan was spreading his evil merchandise in heaven to his companion hosts. (Ezekiel 28:16). Jeremiah wrote in around 600BC about the evil, unholy trio of false priests, false prophets, and followers of both:

An appalling and horrible thing
has happened in the land:
the prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
my people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?
(Jeremiah 5:30-31)

The word in Hebrew for appalling is “a horror.” False teaching, false teachers, false prophets, and false converts who love them are a horror, from a word meaning ruin, desolation.

False teachers is a serious issue, people. We tend to want to lessen their impact by rationalizing. We want to decrease their evilness by calling them merely innocuous bones to spit out whilst we ingest otherwise good food. But is this how God sees them? No. He calls them and their followers a horror, a ruin, and a desolation.

False teachers and false prophets have been in existence since almost the beginning. False converts have also been with us, also. (Cain, anyone?). The 2 Timothy 3:13 verse reminds us that things will only get worse. The diffusion of evil will eventually blanket the world, and during its inexorable diffusion, its intensity will deepen.

The breach between light and darkness, so far from being healed, shall be widened [Henry Alford]

What this means for us is that we are at risk. We are more at risk than our parents or our grandparents, because as the verse says, things will get worse and worse. If we are at risk, then our children are more at risk. How are we at risk? Those who become false teachers want to deliberately ensnare you and me. They want to sell their merchandise because they are greedy. (2 Peter 2:3, 1 Timothy 6:5). If we for some reason are unstable or naive, we will be seduced. (2 Peter 2:14, Romans 16:18). The New Testament is rife with constant warnings. We can’t be content, ignorant, or relaxed about this.

Because we are all sinners, we can fall prey to these false teachers at any time. The antidote is not to be naive, but be wise. For we are not unaware of satan and his schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11). We must not be unstable, but cling to the solid Rock. Do this by constant repentance, persisting in the good works we’re commanded to do, and by prayer and study of His word. Envelop yourself with the blanket of His word.

I speak of this issue frequently. That’s for several reasons-

1. No matter where you read in the Bible, there is always either an issue of or a warning about false teaching. If it is a big deal to God, it is a big deal to me.

2. I am a woman, and women are even more at risk for falling into false teaching and following false converts. (1 Peter 3:7, 2 Timothy 3:6, 2 Corinthians 11:3).

3. Because as satan floods the church with false converts who in turn pile up false teachers, it will be harder and harder to detect the genuine. We are an army of forgiven soldiers whose job it is to love Jesus with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength, with no room for false teaching and no quarter for false prophets. Don’t give sway to it.

4. Because the purer we are individually and as a body, the more we can glorify Jesus. Our chief end in life is to do this. Don’t waver in being steadfast against false teaching and false teachers. They are not misguided, innocuous, harmless, or temporarily errant. They are evil. They are a horror. They are a ruin. This means being being willing to call Beth Moore an evil, abhorrent horror. To say that Sarah Young, Paula White, and others are full of deceit. Can you? Will you?

False teaching is a never-ending battle. We return to Jeremiah, writing in around 600BC, 2,500 years ago-

For wicked men are found among my people;
they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.
They set a trap;
they catch men.
Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
(Jeremiah 5:26-27).

God asked in Jeremiah 5:31, ‘What will you do when the end comes?’ It is always the main question. Our lives are a vapor, this era is but a moment. To the Lord, it has been but two days since Jeremiah wrote, not over two thousand years. (2 Peter 3:8). The end will come, for us all. I pray I am still standing form on His truth. I pray you are too.

———————————————–

I liked this girl’s purity rant; one dad’s review of the program Passport2Purity

Posted on May 29, 2017May 29, 2017 by elizabethprata

Parents, I can’t imagine how hard it must be to raise children in this sex-drenched, lascivious age. Millennials, I can’t imagine how hard it is for you, between the ages of 18 and 25, to negotiate college, relationships, and the world in this age of sin and temptation.

This is why I appreciated discovering Katie Gregoire’s video channel.

According to her “About” on Youtube, Katie Gregoire is,

just a quirky, 19 year old, Christian university student who likes to talk to a camera every now and then. I also have atrocious parking skills and a slight obsession with Captain America. Stay awesome, and don’t be stupid or make bad decisions.
– Katie xo, James 1:2-3

Katie talks really fast. But she enunciates very well. OK, I got that out of the way. She is a college student who muses on Christian life. I’ve listened to two of her videos (only 2 cuz of the talking fast thing…) and I enjoyed them. I really liked her ‘rant on purity’ very much. Many other people did too, because it got 2X the amount of views her videos usually get, which is a healthy 10,000-15,000. The purity video seems to have struck a chord. Toward the end when she got to her point I went A-HA!

Please watch and let me know what you think in the comments.

There is currently a groundswell of interest in a new program for parents teaching sex education to their children called Passport 2 Purity by Dennis and Barbara Rainey at FanilyLife. It seems like a good program. This dad’s review of it was balanced and in concise terms expressed what Katie Gregoire so wisely noted on her rant. (Hint: too often we focus on prohibition and not affirmation.) He is Fred Mok, a pastor in San Jose, CA.

Pastor Mok’s ultimate conclusion in his review of Passport2Purity was that the Raineys “were able to communicate law in the context of the gospel in a way their children were able to receive and experience as God’s graciousness towards them.”

Here is Pr Mok’s overview of the weekend program Passport 2 Purity and his review after having gone through it with his boys.
A Dad’s Review of Passport to Purity

Here is a sponsored essay on Challies site by the Raineys-
How to Teach Your Kids About Sex

Tim Challies has written many blog essays and one or two books on the subject of sexuality and purity. You can find some of those here.

encouragement, Uncategorized

Praise the Lamb, who is building His church

Posted on May 28, 2017May 28, 2017 by elizabethprata

Crazy world! But the sane world is coming, and Jesus will rule and reign. So we study end time prophecy in order to obey the command of Him who said to be watchful, sober, and vigilant; to encourage each other with these words, and to turn our eyes from this world in preparation for the next. And let’s offer His world to as many as we can! Let’s encourage fellow saints who are fainting, embroiled in besetting sin, or who are only lukewarm. We all need encouragement, and it’s the one thing these days that is FREE.

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, (Jude 1:20).

Have you been thinking all along that we were making a defense to you? We speak before God in Christ, and all of this, beloved, is to build you up. (2 Corinthians 12:19).

And soon enough, one of these days we will all really be physically going up, built up in Christ’s majestic plan, and we will see it in its conclusion. He is building His church upon Himself, the Rock.(Matthew 16:18).

John Piper:

“I will build my church.” The church is not a building. It’s a people, with or without a building. But the Bible pictures this people sometimes as tree that grows and sometimes as a building that is built. The point is that this people has a builder, and the builder is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus builds the church.

Photo EPrata

Praise the Lamb!

discernment, Uncategorized

Does God speak to us? Should I expect Him to?

Posted on May 27, 2017May 28, 2017 by elizabethprata

How can I hear God? What do you do to listen to God? Will God be giving me explicit instructions for my life, like He seems to be doing for so many other women?

Beth Moore book: Jesus, the One and Only, p. 48.

Personalized whispers are not scripture, nor are they equal to scripture. “Personalized whispers” is not a teaching method Jesus uses. Yet women are being taught consistently and for decades that it is.

The concerning part is that this generation of younger women has been raised on a steady diet of women in celebrity positions who, for decades, have ‘taught’ the above, that they regularly hear the voice of God. Therefore, women coming up now believe it is the norm to have a personal God in your pocket whispering instructions to you for every little thing, from career moves to audible instruction in theology. But this is most assuredly not the case.

What these celebrity women leaders have done is create a discontent among female congregants who do not have a personal God and wonder what they are doing wrong because they don’t. Because of the poor teaching and constant eisegesis in their celebrity lessons that they, unfortunately, have relied upon, many younger women now realize they lack the skills to understand Gods will in a biblical way.

The will of God is to repent & believe, be baptized and participate in communion, and obey Him all your life.

We know how and where to obey in specific life choices because we read the Bible.

For example, as far as day-to-day choices go, like where to live, what college to go to, whom to marry or whether to marry, the more we obey, the more we’re conformed to Him, which means the more we can confidently decide for ourselves, knowing God prevents bad choices and ordains all things, AND makes all things work to the good of those who love Him. This is where trust comes in. We pray, (not to ‘hear back’ but to repent and submit and praise His sovereignty over all things), we understand the generalities of God’s will for our lives (Matthew 22:36-40). Then we pull up our big girl panties and we just decide.

Should we expect to hear from God? NO. Here are two scriptural explanations why. I repeat, we should NOT expect to hear God audibly, or in a still small, voice, or even in signs or omens, tell us specifically what to do or where to do at any given moment.

Ladies, expect to find God’s will by reading the Bible, whereupon the Spirit can conform you to His image and likeness and renew your mind. Don’t expect to hear a personalized whisper, an impression on your heart, or an audible voice directly telling you. Ultimately the reality of our sanctification is more delicate, mysterious, and beautiful than any whispers could ever be.

RESOURCES

“God told me…?” a 90-second video.

The Blazing Center has an essay titled “Listening to God without Getting All Weird About It“. HT Michelle Lesley

Two other resources for you on God’s will

Here is GotQuestions with a short answer to ‘What is God’s will?’
Know God’s will

And John MacArthur with a longer answer-
Taking the Mystery out of God’s Will

Sola Sisters, from 2012-
False Teachings About Hearing Audible Words From God Taking Even Deeper Root in Today’s Church

Grace To You blog from 2016
That’s Not Jesus Calling

encouragement, Uncategorized

4000 essays

Posted on May 25, 2017May 25, 2017 by elizabethprata

Dear Reader,

As of yesterday I have published 4000 essays at the End Time. My goal has been to share thoughts on the three general topics of prophecy, discernment, and encouragement. Of late I added Poetry and Visual Exegesis. I’ve published daily (with only 3 exceptions) since January 2009. It’s a privilege to study God’s word and then write about it. It’s even more of a privilege to have a sister in the faith click on the links to credible ministries that I offer, and become edified as a result.

This is one of my goals – to point to solid ministries led by men so sisters can find good commentaries, sermons, and other material.

Another goal I’ve had is to provide explanations about prophecy that aren’t wacky. It’s discouraging when I google prophecy ministries and the search results yield such a plethora of date setting, conspiracy theorist, downright insane websites. Prophecy is important, edifying, and interpretable. I hoped to add to the internet archive of reasonable and thoughtful essays exploring this most delightful and thrilling topic, in a way that honors God and teaches the sisters.

Another goal has been to present discerning essays exploring troubling teachings and the teachers that bring them, without snark or mocking. I hope I’ve succeeded in this, but sometimes I know I haven’t. Please forgive me.

I also seek to encourage. Just speaking of Jesus and His wonderful attributes is a privilege and doing so lifts me up. I hope it does you as well.

4000 essays is quite an accomplishment, and I thank the Holy Spirit for giving me the mental capacity, the physical energy, and the spiritual insight to persevere in this ministry. I’ve enjoyed it, and I plan to continue, Lord willing. Thank you for reading The End Time. Tune in tomorrow for another essay, #4,002, as we persevere and do not become weary in doing good.

Clipboard01

prophecy, Uncategorized

A short encouragement about the rapture (with no dates)

Posted on May 24, 2017May 24, 2017 by elizabethprata

Phil Johnson, GraceLife Pulpit pastor and Executive Editor of Grace To You, also the editor of John MacArthur books, tweeted this:

Accepting the challenge, I searched it. Ahem. These were a few of the results-

It’s the same on Goggle when you do a regular search.

We don’t read the news and match to the Bible, but instead we read the Bible and then understand how our sinful actions in today’s news repeat the same old sinful behaviors of the past. We know that judgment of those actions came then and will come again. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Shall we pray to our patient but wrathfully righteous God? May we pray for our nation to call out to Him in abject apology for thrusting Him aside and instituting false gods? We are a nation in dire need of repentance. Otherwise, we know the rest of the story…and there are still so many to be saved.

Read the Bible, be a Berean! We need truth more than ever in these falling away, lying times. Meanwhile, enjoy His provision, whatever it may be. Today it’s the rain, tomorrow maybe the longed-for job? A dinner invitation? A powerful sermon? God will provide what we need when we need it. Our Father will feed us, even as He does the birds, and are we not more valuable than they? 🙂 (Matthew 6:26).

I think about the rapture every day. I know that evil men wax worse, and that each succeeding generation gets more sinful. I know that we are closer to the rapture today than we were yesterday. I can’t wait for the rapture to happen, but please don’t set dates. Just be ready to explain to anyone who asks about the hope we have within us. (1 Peter 3:15)

discernment, Uncategorized

If Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Paul were Arminian…

Posted on May 23, 2017May 23, 2017 by elizabethprata

Today’s essay explores the notion that if Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Paul had been Arminians, how would their testimonies sound? Using today’s vernacular, let’s see how it reads when these eminent Christians say they “chose God” of their own free will.

——————————————–

Photo from Pixabay.com

The Sovereign call of Jeremiah to speak YHWH’s words becomes:
Jeremiah asking Jesus into His heart and making a career decision,

“When I was a youth, one night I couldn’t sleep. I walked around for a while outside, unfamiliar with this restless feeling. I felt young and inept at whatever I tried my hand. I remember clearly, it was the third of Tishrei, a cool September morning. I was at Sabbath at the synagogue. I was overcome with Avital’s lyre playing of the ninth repetition of “Just As I Am.” It all came together in my heart. I made a decision to walk the aisle toward the rabbi, and I knelt down and sincerely asked Messiah into my heart. Rabbi told me I was saved. Afer that, I decided I wanted to be a Prophet of God because I knew that God had a great plan for my life. When I came forward the priest had told me that. I became a prophet even though I was young and didn’t know how to speak. It was a God thing for sure. I’m so happy that day I walked the aisle and decided for the Savior.”

The powerful testimony of Christian Terrorist Paul on the road to Damascus becomes:
Paul meekly being led in praying the Sinner’s Prayer and choosing to change his whole life around-

Paul explained, “I was exceeding my peers in Law, at that time I was breathing out threats and fire against the Christians. I was at the peak of my career. I had the esteem of my colleagues, and I was young enough to have the world in front of me. Yet something lacked. Then one day while I was walking along the road to Damascus on an official Pharisaical mission to jail and execute followers of The Way, I felt a restlessness. Is this all there is, I wondered? Just being the best at everything and killing blasphemers, nice as that was? I spoke about it with the men who were walking with me, but most of them didn’t understand, except for one fellow traveler. He explained that I needed to decide to follow Jesus and that I should use my free will to choose Him. Of course! That was the answer. He led me in the sinner’s prayer. I’ve been saved ever since. You should decide for Jesus too, everyone should. I don’t know why they don’t. That I did is what makes me a great example of Christian self-decisional regeneration. Not to boast, though. Grace and peace to you.”

John the Baptist’s call as the last Old Testament Prophet, foreordained and empowered since the womb, becomes a lifestyle choice-
John the Baptist shares his testimony about accepting Jesus

“I didn’t get along with my parents, they were very aged and they just didn’t understand me or my generation. I felt so lonely, like I didn’t fit in with any of my friends. I went to live in the desert to try and find myself, and figure it all out. One day as I was roasting some locusts over the fire and sewing a new camel hair outfit, I realized suddenly that what I needed was Messiah. What I lacked was that I hadn’t accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior! I decided to give my heart to Jesus. I also decided to stay in the desert. It’s a relationship, not a religion, so who needs church? I have peace about that.”

Don’t those Arminian testimonies sound ridiculous? We do not decide for Jesus. He decided long before the world was ever made or we were ever born. Now here is how it really happened, with the addition of the verses about God’s call to Jesus to become His Son.

The Call of Jeremiah-

Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
(Jeremiah 1:4-5)

Paul-

But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles,
(Galatians 1:15-16)

John the Baptist-

for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. (Luke 1:15).

Jesus-

I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”. (Psalm 2:7)

And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My God is My strength), (Isaiah 49:5).

I am not familiar with this author but I thought his explanation of the biblical truth of God’s sovereign choice of His elect was the clearest and most succinct I’ve read in a while.

Why is one’s understanding of election important?

Why is it important to understand that election is unconditional and individual? If we believe, as Arminians propose, that election is the result of God looking ahead via His omniscient foreknowledge to see who will choose Him and persevere in Him, we make God’s choice of particular people contingent upon their choice/faith in Him. This makes election a reward or an obligation that is given in response to foreseen faith. This is not the gospel of grace. Election in this view is not God independently choosing us; rather, we are choosing Him and He is merely ratifying the choice by calling “elect” those who have chosen Him. Again, this makes man, not God, sovereign in election, and dishonors God by diminishing His sovereignty.

Such a view also leaves a pocket for pride in the human heart. Since the choice to believe is supposedly made by the sinner independently, the one who chooses to believe and respond positively to the gospel offer has proven himself more “worthy” of salvation, with all its attendant blessings, than the one who rejects the gospel. Of course, such an exalted view of man is unjustified by Scripture.

We do not choose Jesus. If we did, we could – and would – boast. No, He chooses us. All the glory rightly belongs to Him.

Uncategorized

Why does America love death so much?

Posted on May 22, 2017May 22, 2017 by elizabethprata

Do you ever wonder why American society is fascinated with death? From movies to entertainments to conversation to society in general, it’s a culture of death.

I’m old enough to remember life, culture, and entertainment before our national fascination with death. In the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, Movie posters used brighter colors. Blood and gore were normally absent. Discussion about death or dead people were done in reverent tones. It was a serious subject.

If a character on a highly rated television show died, it was a cause for “a very special episode.” When the 1983 television film “The Day After“, a film depicting a nuclear war on American soil, was broadcast, warnings about the devastating emotional effect accompanied it, along with telephone numbers for people to call counselors.

Back then, people were sensitive to death. It wasn’t sought out. It wasn’t treated lightly. It certainly wasn’t light entertainment.

By now, in 2017, it is.

One of the top rated TV shows (on Netflix) is 13 Reasons Why,a graphic depiction of a teenager’s life which includes bullying, rape and then suicide. Many viewers and critics say that the show, while striving to present the issue of teen suicide in a mature light, actually glamorizes it. Death occurs in action movies and even cartoons as a standard event. Promotion posters are usually dark, using black and gray colors, with graphic sprays of blood and other disturbing images.

Why has the nation taken such a turn for the worse in its entertainment choices and daily images?

Here is the answer.

For whoever finds me finds life
and obtains favor from the LORD,
but he who fails to find me injures himself;
all who hate me love death.
(Proverbs 8:35-36)

Jim Osman of Kootenai Community Church (in Idaho) preached last week a sermon called, The House of Mourning, (Ecclesiastes 7:1-4). He made an observation I’d like to pass along to you.

I think we’d all agree as Pastor Osman stated that America is a Romans 1 nation, meaning that because we have rejected God, He has turned us over to our sins, nationally. He’s abandoned us so to speak. John MacArthur talks about this kind of wrath as the “wrath of abandonment.” You can read about the progression of national and individual rejection in Romans 1:18-32.

Becuase God is life, when we reject Him, we remain dead in our sins. The proverbs verse stated that very clearly. “All who hate Me love death.” It can’t be clearer that that.

Our national entrancement with death is a clear sign of our spiritual state. All who hate God love death. America loves death, from top to bottom, inside out.

There you have it.

Above collage is an excerpt from a larger piece called “Images of our human spirit before salvation,” by EPrata.

encouragement, Uncategorized

Man in a Hurry, Sunday slowdown

Posted on May 20, 2017 by elizabethprata

“There remains a sabbath rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9).

My favorite Andy Griffith episode is called Man in a Hurry. It’s from Season 3, episode 16. A businessman from the city is traveling through and his car breaks down at the edge of Mayberry. It’s a Sunday, though, and nothing is stirring, even a mouse. Not until church lets out, and even then, the hard-working citizens of Mayberry are committed to and enjoy their Sabbath rest. The man’s frustration with the towns’ seeming unwillingness to help him fix his car grows until he eventually succumbs to the slow-down sweetness of friendship, rest, and communion.

When people reflect on the old TV show they usually mention their most enjoyable scenes are when one or more characters are sitting on the front porch, not doin’ anything much. In the scene below, it’s Sunday, it’s after church and Sunday dinner, Andy and Barney simply sit, listen to the crickets, or softly sing hymns.

Here is Sinclair Ferguson on “Sabbath Rest“. What IS Sabbath rest, anyway?

In creation, man was made as God’s image—intended “naturally” as God’s child to reflect his Father. Since his Father worked creatively for six days and rested on the seventh, Adam, like a son, was to copy Him. Together, on the seventh day, they were to walk in the garden. That day was a time to listen to all the Father had to show and tell about the wonders of His creating work.
Thus the Sabbath Day was meant to be “Father’s Day” every week. It was “made” for Adam. It also had a hint of the future in it. The Father had finished His work, but Adam had not.

Ferguson continues explaining the Sabbath rest and then turns to what the Sabbath should mean to us Christians now that Jesus has come. It’s a good read.

Saturdays are a pile-up day. I picture Saturdays for most people as a day when the litter along the side of the road has blown up against a fence. All the chores, tasks, things you’d planned to do have blown up against Saturday and it’s a busy day attending to them all. Children’s birthday parties, sports games, visiting Mom and Dad, grocery shopping, laundry, school projects….the list is endless. With all the hurry-hurry on Saturdays, it’s sometimes hard to stop that momentum on Sunday.

But we’re supposed to.

But one may ask: “How does this impact my Sundays as a Christian?” This view of the Sabbath should help us regulate our weeks. Sunday is “Father’s Day,” and we have an appointment to meet Him. The child who asks “How short can the meeting be?” has a dysfunctional relationship problem—not an intellectual, theological problem—something is amiss in his fellowship with God.
This view of the Sabbath helps us deal with the question “Is it ok to do … on Sunday?—because I don’t have any time to do it in the rest of the week?” If this is our question, the problem is not how we use Sunday, it is how we are misusing the rest of the week.

As you conclude your day today, if you are reading this on a Saturday (or any other day for that matter), are you in a hurry? Are you cramming in things to do in and around church services? Are you distracted, frazzled, hurried? Slow down. Reflect on how you’re using the week, and how your rest on the Sabbath is to be used as a refreshment to your soul and a reflection of all that God has done and is doing.