Mark 2:23-38 -- Relationship or Duty?
also read 1 Sam 21
How quickly we can make rules. Rules make life more orderly. A parent who does not establish rules for their child has just established exhausting chaos. The rules are to support life, to help it be enjoyable, for everyone involved. When our children were young and we were going to a restaurant or shop, we would go over the rules before we went in, to remind everyone of how our time there was to go, so everyone could have a good time, us, those waiting on us, friends or family we might be with, and the strangers also in the same place, our rules were to help everyone have an enjoyable time, while we were there.
the rules were not to make life extraordinarily difficult, dull or discouraging, but to make the most of the time together. We did not establish the rules to be mean to our children, but because we loved them. The rules were not set in stone, but able to change as the children grew and situations demanded it. The children did not set or interpret the rules, we did. Whenever we let the kids set the rules we quickly found ourselves in negotiations with them and the focus was solely on what they wanted.
God longs for us to enjoy him in relationship. So much so that he created a day and set it a part solely for that purpose and called it the Sabbath, a time to be with Him. He established some boundaries for the relationship but over time His children had established a whole series of rules to define and organize what that meant, and soon the negotiations began to try to discover how to keep the rules, get what I want and, oh, by the way, I'll give God a little attention if I remember.
David went to God's house because he had a living relationship with God and knew he could find help from God. He wanted to be with God, to honor Him, to trust and rely on Him, and so God allowed the rules to be changed in that circumstance to provide David and his men with food.
When you God to God's house, do you go to be with Him or to fulfill some duty, to satisfy some expectation, some rule? He wants to be with you, that is what the Sabbath was made for, do you want to be with Him? God wants to make your time with Him enjoyable, to renew your sense of purpose and restore hope.
When David was in God's house, he received more than bread, God provided other things he needed as well. check it out, what was it / why?
How quickly we can make rules. Rules make life more orderly. A parent who does not establish rules for their child has just established exhausting chaos. The rules are to support life, to help it be enjoyable, for everyone involved. When our children were young and we were going to a restaurant or shop, we would go over the rules before we went in, to remind everyone of how our time there was to go, so everyone could have a good time, us, those waiting on us, friends or family we might be with, and the strangers also in the same place, our rules were to help everyone have an enjoyable time, while we were there.
the rules were not to make life extraordinarily difficult, dull or discouraging, but to make the most of the time together. We did not establish the rules to be mean to our children, but because we loved them. The rules were not set in stone, but able to change as the children grew and situations demanded it. The children did not set or interpret the rules, we did. Whenever we let the kids set the rules we quickly found ourselves in negotiations with them and the focus was solely on what they wanted.
God longs for us to enjoy him in relationship. So much so that he created a day and set it a part solely for that purpose and called it the Sabbath, a time to be with Him. He established some boundaries for the relationship but over time His children had established a whole series of rules to define and organize what that meant, and soon the negotiations began to try to discover how to keep the rules, get what I want and, oh, by the way, I'll give God a little attention if I remember.
David went to God's house because he had a living relationship with God and knew he could find help from God. He wanted to be with God, to honor Him, to trust and rely on Him, and so God allowed the rules to be changed in that circumstance to provide David and his men with food.
When you God to God's house, do you go to be with Him or to fulfill some duty, to satisfy some expectation, some rule? He wants to be with you, that is what the Sabbath was made for, do you want to be with Him? God wants to make your time with Him enjoyable, to renew your sense of purpose and restore hope.
When David was in God's house, he received more than bread, God provided other things he needed as well. check it out, what was it / why?
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