Goin’ home
March 7th, 2008 by Marc
One of the very best things about Fridays is that it’s a dedicated evening with my family.
I look forward to it all day. Even all week.
Nothing fancy. But all family.
As an added bonus, I try to observe a Sabbath rest on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. That especially means no work related computer activity tonight. And it’s often easier to simply stay unplugged.
I love it.
As a tither, I believe that God can take my 90% far further than I could take my 100%.
As a growing disciple, I’m moving to the point of believing that God can take my 6 days further than I can take my 7.
A whole day seems challenging as a bi-vocational person. The most obvious day is Saturday, but that’s the best day for connecting with people too. Interestingly, my rabbi friend thinks it’s amusing that Christian pastors wrestle with this. Apparently, Sabbath is Sabbath. Rabbinic worship leading isn’t “work” like we protestants see it. It’s just how they celebrate Sabbath.
I’m still working on getting a day. 
I’m not there yet. But I’m getting closer.
And now I’m going home!
This entry was posted on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 5:06 pm and is filed under church planting, family life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 10th, 2008 at 8:56 am
oooh, good discussion topic:
“which is more important: tithing or observing sabbath”
bit of a loaded question, actually..
March 10th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Yep, loaded.
Makes about as much sense to me as “Which is better, serving God or eating lunch?”
Both are important!
March 11th, 2008 at 7:14 am
true. however..based on observation alone, I think it can be fairly said, that it’s clear which of the two enjoys a higher priority in the church.
hmm
March 11th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Yeah, if BOTH were high priority, we’d be able to fund the work of the Kingdom and our churches would have funds for the healthcare needs of our congregations and the housing needs and the food needs.
But since the average Christian in the US gives 2% (even those that consider themselves “tithers”), most churches choose to teach on giving.
Oh…perhaps you meant sabbath wasn’t getting enough attention?
March 11th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
mmm sabbath….
March 11th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Ahh…
Isn’t it interesting that both disciplines attack idols in our culture:
* tithing attacks avarice/greed/mammon
* sabbath attacks pride & “busy-ness”
March 12th, 2008 at 9:55 am
of all places, the Reformed Pres. church seems to have what I feel is a fairly balanced view of the T topic:
http://www.arpsynod.org/thetithe.html
feedback?
March 12th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
I just skimmed it, but it seems to say what I say: Jesus wants it all. Cheerfully and generously but it’s all his.
To me, it’s obvious that tithing’s not enough. A great place to start, a lousy place to stop.
In my experience in talking with people that make the jump to tithing, not tithing is more about fear and worry. Not trusting God to come through.
Perhaps I skimmed the article too fast.
March 12th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Ok, read a bit more.
“No nagging about giving?” This comes from taking Paul out of context.
Check out his epistles. His “you need to give freely” is wedded to a borderline-manipulative letter telling the Corinthians they better not come up short in the amount they pledged to him.
I’ve got the texts at my site:
http://fundraisingcoach.com/bible.htm