Receiving New Light in the Commandments
This week, Mr Takaharu Noto from Japan shares how God shed light on him regarding the “Sabbath”.
As a Japanese, I believe in Christ and had an understanding of the Sabbath based on the so-called traditional Japanese church view of the Bible. “It is our duty as a Christian to respect the Sunday service of the church and to offer our rest as an opportunity to show our loyalty and faith to God. In doing so, God blesses us.”
When I first heard this teaching, it was like doing a trade for me, I was not too comfortable with. But without thinking further, I accepted it. Since then, as I have lived a religious life for a long time, I have come to have various thoughts about Sunday worship. Attending worship service as a member, leading worship as a church staff, or simply changing my mind about worship over the years … God always speaks to me through various situations. The word was “Connect to me.” And as I have spent four years at 611, I became more and more confident about this word.
This time, Ps Joshua spoke on the Fourth Commandment, in which he said, “All seven days have been given to us by God, but one of them will be used to deepen fellowship with Him.” From the story, I understood that what God wants us is fellowship with us.
The previous teaching stated, “Sacrifice your holidays for attending church Sunday services, and you will be blessed.” But Ps Joshua’s message told us, “Set aside one of the days God has given you for fellowship with God, because God wants to be closer to you.” The subject matter there changes from giving and taking things to building relationships. This is consistent with what God has said before. I felt that the fog of thoughts about Sunday worship, which had become too complicated due to various conflicts of faith, clears up.
In addition, in the daily life of 611, which moves in the rhythm of God, the key revelation for further building a relationship with God was given in parallel. It means “approaching him with a childlike heart.” This is the result of Ps. Joshua’s attitude toward God. I would like to write these newly given words of God on the board of my heart through the process of “dissecting the fish.”
Indeed, relationship matters most to God and it should be the same with all of us, may God help us.