Teaching Point: Day - or maybe a week! - of Rest

This Sunday’s teaching: Genesis 2:1-3 (quote from a commentary): “When the Lord looked upon the completion of His creative work, He was moved with an emotion of deep delight and personal satisfaction. The phrase ‘it was very good’, Genesis 1:31, might be translated ‘completely perfect’. Everything in the universe from the smallest blade of grass to the largest star brought intense joy to His heart. The cosmos was harmonious and perfect with His beauty clothed upon it. The meaning of this passage is that God did rest from His work of creation; for the present He will refrain from creating anything new.”

I will be traveling to NW Indiana with my hubby & boys this weekend, visiting and celebrating Thanksgiving with my extended family. We leave Wednesday morning around 4 a.m. and will return Sunday evening. This is the first Sunday I’ve missed since early June and I confess it’s not easy for me to be gone. But it’s time I take a few days of rest from the work here so I can be renewed and refreshed upon returning. A day of rest is so important in the life of the believer.

I believe that as the Good Lord looks down upon you, His creation, He smiles and says, “Yes, it is very good!” Everything God creates is good and brings intense joy to He heart. He worked and worked and worked, for 6 days straight, then took a “day off” to enjoy all the beauty of His creation. Yes, it was completely perfect when He created it, and we are a far cry from being completely perfect today, but I thank God for His Gracious Son, Jesus Christ, who IS completely perfect, yet died with the weight of the world’s sin, my sin, upon Himself. The Bible teaches us that the Lord Jesus intercedes right now for us, an unholy people, to a Holy, Just, and Forgiving God.

I’ll be praying for each of you [my teachers & leaders] this week and especially Sunday morning, but I know God holds you all in the palm of His hand to care for you, love on you, and satisfy your every need. These children that come Sunday morning belong to Him…we’ve been entrusted with their care for just a few short hours (although it feels like a looooong morning!) each Sunday. Please don’t ever underestimate the difference you are making in the lives of these kids! I thank God for you, your supportive families, and the wonderful service you provide week after week, month after month.