| Taking a Break |
 How is your holiday? Does your holiday seem ages ago? They are so quickly forgotten. Or are you looking forward to it soon or enjoying it now? My father in law would say towards the end of his holiday, ‘It is beginning to stink a bit now!’ Or perhaps you can’t afford a break this year? One in seven Taking time off goes back a very long time. God instituted it way back in the Ten Commandments. (To check what they are look in the Bible at Exodus chapter 20.) The fourth one says we must take off one day in seven. Christians observe weekly the first day, Sunday, to mark God’s creation of the world and Jesus Christ’s miraculous resurrection from death. That is a different and ‘special’ day for thanking God for who He is and what He has done for us, for fellowship with other Christians, and for hearing teaching from His word, the Bible. I ignored keeping that day as special until I asked Jesus Christ into my life as my Saviour. Until then I had not appreciated that He had died upon the cross to bear my sins and my punishment in my place for having offended God. I rarely thought about His rising from the dead, or receiving Him as my personal and living Saviour. But He changed me when I received Him by faith into my life. My Sunday changed too! I was a very keen cricketer and rugby player, but as I began to enjoy keeping Sunday for Jesus Christ as ‘the Lord’s day’ I happily confined playing sport to Monday to Saturday. Now as a ‘dinosaur’ who is unable to prop in a rugby scrum or ‘bounce’ a batsman with a short ball, I am so glad for that change. Knowing Jesus not only changes a young man and his lifestyle for the very best: it also prepares him for Heaven when youth and life have gone. The need for rest Everyone needs to rest from time to time. A holiday break from life’s routine and hassle refreshes us. But we need inner peace even more. We can know peace with God, whom our rebellious wrongdoing has offended, because Christ died for our sins. God’s peace becomes ours when we turn from sin to Jesus. His indwelling peace becomes ours in the worst situations, even when passing through death’s shadowy valley. Christ promised each Christian eternal peace. Rescued from deserved punishment, His followers will receive Heaven’s amazing unmerited and everlasting blessings. We will need no holiday there! And no one will ever say, as my father in law did, ‘It is beginning to stink a bit now!’ By Gerard Chrispen |