“One Day a Week”

In the Old Testament, God punished the Hebrews for their sins several times. He used the neighboring nations to conquer the Hebrews into captivity. Finally the "Diaspora" (great dispersion) took place. The Hebrews were removed from the land that God gave to them.

What was this sin that was so terrible? God had told them not to marry outside of their religion. Not because He wanted exclusivity, but because He knew as the Israelites conquered nations, the warriors would find other women to be appealing. Those women would impart some of their culture and would nag their husbands to bring their idols into the household. The Hebrews disobeyed God's orders and married outside their faith anyway. Was that the great sin, something so natural that it was bound to happen?

As the Israelites married and finally relented, the idols of other faiths were brought into the household. The Hebrews did not turn their backs on God and worship the other idols. They said "Look, we still believe in the Lord God, were not deserting Him. But we'll worship Him on the Sabbath and then worship the others on other days. What will it hurt? He'll still be our real God."

They forgot the very first commandment that said "Thall shalt have no other God before me."

Boy were they dumb, it's so obvious. This isn't rocket science. It's like my race car...low tech!

…and then I think: I know what God I worship on Sunday. I live totally dedicated to His principles on the Sabbath. But on Monday what God do I pursue? The "god" of business success? On Tuesday, the "god" of recognition? On Wednesday the "god" of materialism? On Saturday, the "god" of the timeslip?

You get my drift?

I'm afraid I make the same mistake as the Israelites. I am a Sunday Christian. Lord please help me to remember Your precepts all week long.

Mike Schacter