Saturday, October 16, 2010

The Market Day of the Soul

Tomorrow is Sunday.
I love Sundays!
If you are a Christian, Sunday is a day to forget about all of the worldly toils.
It is a day to refresh your spirit.
It is a day to celebrate and look forward to 
The eternal rest offered to you by Christ.
It is a day to focus your energy on Worshiping God.
It is a day to fellowship with other Believers. 
It is a day of Rest for your weary and heavy laden heart.
 It is the Market Day of your Soul.

I often try to have one main day per week when I go to the store to buy my groceries or other things that we need for the week. According to Joseph A. Pipa in his book "The Lord's Day", the Puritans did the same thing(p. 42)! They would have a market where farmers and merchants would come into the town to buy and sell. I always find it neat to learn about how people lived in the past (even the simple things). 

What does this have to do with Sunday? Well, Some of the Puritans often referred to the Lord's Day (Sunday) as the "Market day of the Soul". Just like we may take one day out of seven to run errands and gather food for our family, we must also take one day out of seven to replenish and nourish our Souls (p. 43). 

We must not forget this day! It is Special to God! The 4th commandment states: "Six days shall you labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God...". It is His day. It belongs to Him! Not only that though...He gives it to us for our benefit too.  I like how Pipa puts it, "The purpose of the Fourth Commandment is to free us from our daily business so that we may do business with Him (God)" (p. 43). Notice that the purpose is not to inhibit us from doing our normal weekly things, but rather to free us from them! I often need to be reminded of this! 

The Lord's day is a blessing! God is so Gracious to give us one whole day out of seven to especially focus on Worshiping Him and bringing Glory to Him. 

May you all enjoy The Lord's Day Tomorrow!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

thanks for this! as a youth minister who works on sundays, i sometimes feel weary and forget that i worship to replenish my soul :) words that i needed to read this night. blessings to you!!

Mrs. Stam said...

Have blessed Lord's day :-)