Sabbath Thought - Obedience and Service 

There are two major hallmarks of a Christian - obedience to God's Law and service to others. Both of these points are built on the Godly trait of Love (1 John 4:8, 16). What does this mean in a practical sense - how do we make obedience and service part of our everyday life?

Obedience is easy to understand, although humanly hard to follow through on. We know the Law of the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20), we know we are to keep God's Holy Days (Leviticus 23), we know we are to tithe to God (Malachi 3:8-10), and we have many other points of obedience made clear to us from Scripture. We obey God because in our obedience we have the promise from God to be faithful to us (Deuteronomy 7:9). We obey God because doing so also reflects our love toward Him (1 John 5:2-3).

How are we to serve one another - what does that look like? Certainly, it can be physical acts (like lending a hand, providing a ride, or cooking a meal and so forth), but Godly service goes deeper than simple fulfillment of something physical. God asks us to serve one another in love - His love (John 13:35).  In the freedom God has given us through His Law we are not to use that liberty selfishly but rather to serve one another (Galatians 5:13). God's love in us is to lead us to put others before our self (Romans 12:10). In a simple expression, serving one another is saying "How can I help you today (now)?," so that God is glorified.

We have several opportunities coming up on our calendars to both show God our obedience and to serve one another. We still have 3 Holy Days yet on God's calendar, and in the Feast of Tabernacles we have a whole week to serve each other. We can serve in one of the physical ways (ushering, parking, etc.) and we can serve someone spiritually - encouraging them, sitting and listening to them, or simply being an example of a true Christian. When we couple obedience to God's Law with serving one another in His Love then indeed we become one of His children.

I wish you all a beautiful and rewarding balance of the fall Holy Day season.

 Have a wonderful Sabbath,

Dan Dowd

Joe Greene 

Pastor for Richmond and Roanoke, VA

Human Resources Manager

(434) 808-2146