What do you like to do on vacation?
Some people like to travel, some like to stay at home. Some might like to party down while others catch up on sleep. We're all different and we all "vacation" differently.
There were no vacations back in the days of Jesus. The only break they had from all of their work was the sabbath day - one day each week. And on that day they could do no work. None.
Today things are different. I remember a time when stores were closed on Sunday. You'd better have gotten your groceries on Saturday because you weren't getting them on Sunday. Not any more. Those days are gone.
That is just one of the many "signs of the times" that things have changed. Our priorities have changed.
I am reading in the Book of 1st Samuel right now. Samuel was "given to God" at a very young age and he lived his entire life serving the Lord. No vacations whatsoever.
"After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there." - 1 Samuel 24-28
What do our vacations look like in God's eyes, I wonder? Do we serve only ourselves, or do we serve the Lord? Do we serve others with our time off? I have a friend who is a dentist. He takes takes vacations to foreign countries, but he doesn't go there for his own pleasure.
My friend goes there to serve God by doing dental work for those who cannot afford it. And many need it. He also shares the gospel with them as he works. Most need that too.
Are examples of Christ on our vacations? Or do we serve only ourselves?
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