Freedom In Work
Those in slavery to their job cannot take time off to work.
What can we learn from the 3 festivals?
Feast of Booths
“You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.”
The Feast of Booths is to celebrate 7 weeks after the beginning of the harvest.
What are they rejoicing?
The provision and blessing God gives them through the harvest.
So the majority of us do not farm. But this does not mean we cannot celebrate what God provides.
When they were slaves, rejoicing over provision was difficult. They did not work for their own provision. They were at the mercy of someone else for provision.
The opposite side is to always consume and never rejoice. You work for your own provision, but you constantly consume. You cannot rejoice, because you believe all you have is yours.
This third option is the option that comes with joy. God told them to include those who cannot provide for themselves. They were to stop working and rejoice about God’s blessing.
They are no longer slaves. Their work directly led to their provision. To work for your provision is freedom. To work for someone else’s provision is slavery.
As a minister, lead people to realize they are not slaves to their jobs. They do not work for someone else’s provision. Their work is to serve others. Through this work, they are provided for. God is the one who provides because he gives the skills and abilities to have the job in the first place. Lead others to be generous with their provision.
And lead them to celebrate all God does for them through out the year. We don’t count 7 weeks from the start of harvest. But the principle remains the same. Take time out from the work to rejoice you are not a slave to your work and rejoice over all God has provided.
Slaves never take off to rejoice. Free people break free of the slavery of work to celebrate all of what God has done. Free people are generous. Free people have the dignity of working for their provision.