"Guess what!" I told one of our church members, almost bursting with joy. "Next Sabbath, someone from your home country is coming to our church for the first time! I met her at the store, and she said agreed to come. Would you welcome her in her native language? She'll be impressed for sure." She looked at me as if I had just asked her to recite Hail Mary a hundred times. "Sorry, Pastor. Next Saturday is my Sabbath. I already made plans. I'll drive to - - - -, stay there for few hours, listen to music, read, have a picnic, you know..." That phrase stayed with me. "My Sabbath"? God seems to have missed that announcement. The Bible says, "I gave them My Sabbaths" (Ezekiel 20:12). Isaiah calls it "My Holy Day" (Isaiah 58:13). God gave us six days to conduct our lives according to our priorities, plans and choices. Then comes the seventh - not another day for us to customize, but His day. The Sabbath is not merely God's weekly gift of time off. It is time with Him, for Him, and often for others through Him. That includes worship. Fellowship. Mercy. Encouragement. Mission. We are not called merely to keep the Sabbath; we are called to witness for the One who made it. But Laodicea says in Rev. 3:17 - I'm rich, I'm cool, I need nothing. Could we ever become so spiritually numb that even God's holy time gets reorganized around our comfort? "C'mon, you are saying this because you are the Pastor and…" No, I don't try to impress, manipulate, misguide, or control what you should do or not do. It is your life. Just my perspective. If you stay home because you simply don't want to be bothered, or don't want to meet someone at church, or have decided that your plans are more important than His plans, maybe the problem isn't that you need another day to decompress. Maybe your soul is tired. And Jesus says, "Come to Me… and I will give you rest" (Mat. 11:28). He plans to meet you this Sabbath. And the next ones. Come to receive His blessing and come to be a blessing to someone He may send here just for you. Six days are yours to live for Him. The seventh is His invitation to let Him live through you.

— Pastor Ovid Radulescu