What happened to weekends off?
When I was growing up in the 1970's and 1980's I can remember when my parents had weekends off... they didn't have to work on weekends, and depending on the job, working on Saturday or Sunday was optional at "time and a half" and holidays were "double-time", etc. It's not like that anymore for most people, and the simple matter of fact is all of us have to work a lot harder and put in a lot more hours to make ends meet today... much more work for much less pay!
Most of us are beasts of burden, working for large corporations, franchises or institutions that want us to work every second of our lives for the sole purpose of increasing the size of their bank accounts. In return, we get a small penance for our troubles, we are exhausted of all of our energy, personal time off, and even a sustainable amount of needed sleep in most cases. We end up being casualties to the system; if we fail to maintain the fast-paced 7-day work week then we end up being fired, suffering from health issues, over-work and illness; stress and shorter, less fruitful lives... we are cannon fodder!
Most of us are beasts of burden, working for large corporations, franchises or institutions that want us to work every second of our lives for the sole purpose of increasing the size of their bank accounts. In return, we get a small penance for our troubles, we are exhausted of all of our energy, personal time off, and even a sustainable amount of needed sleep in most cases. We end up being casualties to the system; if we fail to maintain the fast-paced 7-day work week then we end up being fired, suffering from health issues, over-work and illness; stress and shorter, less fruitful lives... we are cannon fodder!
Self employment makes it possible
It took me many years to build up my self-employed computer business, working other jobs and doing my computer work part-time on the side while building up a client base. Self-employment is a rocky road, sometimes it's feast and famine, and in America self-employed people pay double taxes. It takes a lot of willpower, intelligence, and endurance to survive while self-employed but the freedom you receive from doing it and making it happen is more than worth all of the extra effort.
Many people (especially city people who are used to 24/7 service availability) don't understand why I purposely take weekends off in my business. In fact, most people in general don't know that I run my business on Christian principles, and the freedom of self-employment allows me to do that. I've always believed that working five days a week is enough; Saturdays are for family and maintaining our home; Sundays are for praising God with our church family and thanking him through prayers and music for all that he has done in our lives. Remembering the Sabbath gives me the opportunity to play the drums with our Praise Team at church, to do something that I enjoy while honoring God's holy presence and sharing in fellowship with our church family... this is a huge blessing for me as a Christian. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Many people (especially city people who are used to 24/7 service availability) don't understand why I purposely take weekends off in my business. In fact, most people in general don't know that I run my business on Christian principles, and the freedom of self-employment allows me to do that. I've always believed that working five days a week is enough; Saturdays are for family and maintaining our home; Sundays are for praising God with our church family and thanking him through prayers and music for all that he has done in our lives. Remembering the Sabbath gives me the opportunity to play the drums with our Praise Team at church, to do something that I enjoy while honoring God's holy presence and sharing in fellowship with our church family... this is a huge blessing for me as a Christian. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
We have fundamental human rights
Setting aside a day of rest each week was a revolutionary concept when it was first introduced as the Fourth Commandment; it extended that day of rest to slaves and animals and thus set in motion the slow process of ending slavery. We were never meant to be slaves to “the corporate machine”, to be the beasts of burden that we are today... we were meant to be free! God allotted all people, even slaves, a full day of rest as a reward for all of our hard work and also for time to spend with our friends, family and loved ones. God is against slavery! In fact, for those people who are big on animal rights and the compassionate treatment of animals, the Sabbath allows the animals that work for us in farming and other industries to have a day of rest as well! If having a day of rest was not important to us humans as well as the animals that work for us then why would God tell Moses to include it in the Ten Commandments?
This reveals yet another reason as to why the Ten Commandments have been removed from our government buildings in America; despite that our country was founded on God's core principles, our government does not want to recognize God's will nor our fundamental human rights. The government believes that by removing the Ten Commandments from their buildings and properties that they no longer have to uphold these God-given ideals... they are sadly mistaken. By not recognizing the Fourth Commandment, our government is admitting that their intention is to keep the blue collar and lower-income classes working harder and harder in order to support the wealth and the needs of those at the top of the pyramid... essentially to make the majority of us “slaves to the machine”.
Recognize that our roller-coaster economy is created by media propaganda, mind control that dictates to us how “good or bad” we are doing as it distracts us from revealing hidden truths. For example, the government despises self-employed individuals; they have too much freedom and they don't conform, so they are penalized with double taxation. If too many people are self-employed or are running their own local, non-franchised small businesses then these folks are taking away more slaves from “the machine” and the government doesn't like that. Our government does not want us to experience the true freedom, rest and relaxation that we are entitled to; by keeping us distracted and running blindly forward towards the unreachable goal of the utopian “American Dream” they stifle our God-given freedoms and independence, all for the purpose of keeping “the machine” running. If you're forced to run a pointless marathon without any time to stop and smell the roses then you don't have time to sit, observe and think about your purposes in life, nor to reveal what is happening right in front of you, not only within our government but also in today's corporate-driven workplaces.
This reveals yet another reason as to why the Ten Commandments have been removed from our government buildings in America; despite that our country was founded on God's core principles, our government does not want to recognize God's will nor our fundamental human rights. The government believes that by removing the Ten Commandments from their buildings and properties that they no longer have to uphold these God-given ideals... they are sadly mistaken. By not recognizing the Fourth Commandment, our government is admitting that their intention is to keep the blue collar and lower-income classes working harder and harder in order to support the wealth and the needs of those at the top of the pyramid... essentially to make the majority of us “slaves to the machine”.
Recognize that our roller-coaster economy is created by media propaganda, mind control that dictates to us how “good or bad” we are doing as it distracts us from revealing hidden truths. For example, the government despises self-employed individuals; they have too much freedom and they don't conform, so they are penalized with double taxation. If too many people are self-employed or are running their own local, non-franchised small businesses then these folks are taking away more slaves from “the machine” and the government doesn't like that. Our government does not want us to experience the true freedom, rest and relaxation that we are entitled to; by keeping us distracted and running blindly forward towards the unreachable goal of the utopian “American Dream” they stifle our God-given freedoms and independence, all for the purpose of keeping “the machine” running. If you're forced to run a pointless marathon without any time to stop and smell the roses then you don't have time to sit, observe and think about your purposes in life, nor to reveal what is happening right in front of you, not only within our government but also in today's corporate-driven workplaces.
We need time for rest and time for fellowship
The power of the Fourth Commandment to change your life is no less real today than it was for our ancient ancestors. When God provisioned the Sabbath day, he not only provisioned time for rest, but time for us to spend with our loved ones. Being there for loved ones when they need us is part of it, as well as being recharged and energized by all of those fun and precious moments that we experience with them throughout our lives together. Last but not least, time off from work allows for more time with our spouses. Today's divorce rate would be drastically decreased if couples had more quality time to spend together, and the Sabbath allows for that time as well.
We aren't on this earth for very long, folks... and if we dedicate 100% of our lives to working and making a buck then we are not being fully responsible with all that the Lord has given us. We need to carve out time for friends and family and for the Lord every week and we need to make it a solid, ongoing effort. Without all of the added "perks" we receive that are given to us by God we are nothing more than mindless robots wasting our time to get as much money as possible... while sacrificing all of the good in our lives to do so. Whether you believe in God or not, you can't take all of your money and worldly possessions with you when you die. Our purpose here on earth is not to gain as much wealth and stuff as possible. We are to live our lives with fellow man; to share each-others burdens, joys, successes and failures; to enjoy serving others and sharing each-others company, and all the while we are to praise God for giving us life in the first place.
We aren't on this earth for very long, folks... and if we dedicate 100% of our lives to working and making a buck then we are not being fully responsible with all that the Lord has given us. We need to carve out time for friends and family and for the Lord every week and we need to make it a solid, ongoing effort. Without all of the added "perks" we receive that are given to us by God we are nothing more than mindless robots wasting our time to get as much money as possible... while sacrificing all of the good in our lives to do so. Whether you believe in God or not, you can't take all of your money and worldly possessions with you when you die. Our purpose here on earth is not to gain as much wealth and stuff as possible. We are to live our lives with fellow man; to share each-others burdens, joys, successes and failures; to enjoy serving others and sharing each-others company, and all the while we are to praise God for giving us life in the first place.
I remember the Sabbath... how about you?
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