Deuteronomy 16:1-22


Holidays are something that most of us look forward to celebrating together as a family.  They should be a time for reflection on the Lord and that which He has done for us as well as a time for us to examine how the Lord would have us to walk in the days ahead.  The regular routine of life is something that is very helpful to us but we also look forward to breaks in the routine.  Unfortunately, it seems like breaks in our routine usually end up meaning that we separate less time to spend with the Lord and reflecting on Him than we do on a regular basis.  Just the opposite should be true.  Society has created an expectation of spending money on things, being involved in activities that fill up all of our time and use up all of our extra funds during the holiday season.  The end result of a holiday in the world’s way is that we rush from activity to activity and have a hard time reading Scripture or praying and then we spend as much as we can on special things for ourselves that end up forcing us to give less to the work of the Lord.  God’s intention in a holiday is that we have much extra time for grateful reflection and prayerful planning and that we consecrate as much as we can to give to the Lord and the needs of others.

GOD WANTS US TO HAVE TIME FOR REST AND REFLECTION: It seems like we are always busy and can easily fill up every hour of every day.  We become so active that we get exhausted and rarely have time to stop and think or pray.  God has set aside times in our weeks and in the holidays of the year where our normal routine should be interrupted in order to have more time for rest and reflection.  Activity often becomes a salve that we use to cover up our consciences so that we easily ignore our sin.  We would do well to strive to simplify our lives, cut out some activities and schedule time to stop and think, evaluate, pray, praise and worship the Lord.  Times we take off work should provide opportunities to spend more time with God, not less.

GOD WANTS US TO BE JUST IN OUR JUDGMENTS: It was very important to the Lord that the children of Israel be known as an honest and just nation.  They were not to offer or take bribes and were to justly judge the crimes committed against one another.  People naturally want to try to get away with things and will try to pervert justice in order to find relief or in order to make some extra money.  Greed and guilt will motivate people to do some very bad things.  God wants us to respond to sin by repentance, restitution and then committing to righteousness.  Out natural tendency is to try to cover up or excuse sin in order to save ourselves from disgrace or discomfort.  We must learn to admit and turn from our sin and recognize that the only way to solve the problem of sin is through repentant faith in the work of Christ.

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