​The Westminster Confession was a document written by church leaders in the year 1647 (a long time ago!). There is a shorter version of it called the “Shorter Catechism” which summarizes the Confession for people. Like the Heidelberg Catechism, it tries to explain what sabbath really means. It offers us an interesting glimpse into what it means to “break the sabbath”, or to not do what God wants us to do on the sabbath.

What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?
(which is, “Honor the sabbath day and keep it holy.”)

The fourth commandment forbids the omission or careless performance of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t often think about the “careless performance of duties” or “idleness” (which means “laziness”) as ways that we disobey God’s commandment to honor the sabbath, but I think it’s right. We need to take the idea of sabbath seriously. 

Are we honoring God  with our sabbath or just taking a break? 
Are we actively resting in God’s promises or merely resting? 

These are hard questions to think about. They can be harder questions to answer. Ponder the two questions above, and pray that God would give you the conviction to honor the sabbath in a way that honors God.

This week’s devotions are adapted from the book, A Brief History of Sunday: From the New Testament to the New Creation by Justo L. Gonzalez. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids. 2017.