Keeping a Sabbath

We haven't done real well with the Sabbath, have we?  I mean we as a society, as a church.  On Sundays we try to avoid working a shift of a paying job if we can, but then we come home from church (where we've often volunteered and shouldered the load) and do housework and catch up on email (even work-related email), etc.

On the other hand we have generally set aside our Sundays, at least the church-going population has, and it's really rare that we'll accidentally schedule something that conflicts with Sunday morning.  We do occasionally miss because we're out of town or something, but generally we regard Sunday mornings as no longer ours.  Lost to the Lord's worship, if you will, or left on the altar as a sacrifice.  It wasn't ours to begin with, and many of us grew up with no Sunday mornings of our own.

The nation of Israel forgot its Sabbath.  Kept growing crops right on through the years when the land should have lain fallow.  The exile to Babylon was part of that story--try growing crops when you're a slave in a foreign land!

Have I kept the Sabbath holy?  Since I don't interpret this to literally mean 24 hours between sundown and sundown, there are two parts to the question: 1) Have I kept a rest time set apart in accord with what the Lord has declared for me.  For my good. and 2) Have I kept a time set apart for the Lord's worship.  To honor him.  Not to be double booked or receive low priority.

Shalom Shabbath.