"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.  And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done"  Genesis 2:2-3.

Some days are just not productive, or so it seems.  Too bad that production is the name of the game, so to speak.  We see it in our questions, "Was the meeting productive?"  "Did you have a productive day at school?"  "How is that employee producing for you?"  I guess in some places, with some people, that is just the way it is in their work environment.  It's what they get paid for.

Pastors can get caught in that trap just as easily.  It's all about production.  I've been at denominational conferences where I would meet someone new, and before I could get their full name they were asking me "How many are you guys running over there at your church?"  In other words, what are you producing?  How much money, how many baptisms, how many butts in seats, how many programs, how many ministries, how many, How many, HOW MANY?  Could drive you nuts.

Production is not bad though - in fact, quite Biblical it is (that sentence sounds like I am quoting Yoda.........go back and say it with a Yoda voice.........I just did.........fun I just had, yes).  We should produce.  The problem is, we think we are made to produce every day.  I can't think of anything in God's world that produces vegetation every day.  EVERY DAY.  But we think, for some reason, we are supposed to produce every day.  People are depending on us - they are counting on us.  We are important, and these poor people need our vegetation for their sustenance.  Are you kidding me?

Anything that produces vegetation every day is a fake.  Computer generated.  Graphically enhanced.  Milli Vanilli (that is a sweet shout out).  God didn't make creation that way, and I don't think He made us that way.  So what do we do when we realize we can't produce every day?  We fake it.  Yep, we just act like we care, or have compassion, or have spent time with God, or are loving, or, or, or.  Man, that is one empty way to live.  It dries up your soul and shrinks your thoughts of God.

Well, even God didn't produce every day.  He did some incredibly creative and beautifully artistic work over a 6 day period, and then He quit.  Stopped producing.  He wasn't tired - He just took some time to enjoy what He produced.  He sabbathed, in a manner of speaking.

I need to do that too.  Sometimes I am a production machine.  I feel like I have to produce message after message, talk after talk, leadership lesson after leadership lesson, wedding after wedding, vision after vision, relationship after relationship, event afer event.  And, you bet, there have been times I have faked it because I thought that my responsibility was to produce every single day.  But I can't.  And "sabbathing" gives me the chance to enjoy what God has done with me, in me, through me - but most of all, to just enjoy God.  I don't have to produce for Him - I just take the time to enjoy Him.

Sabbathing gives me, and us, the chance to remember Who is God.

And who is not.

"Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."  Matthew 5:37

So I watched a presidential political debate recently (and, no, I won't tell you which party............though I have seen debates of both parties so far).  What struck me was the lack of clarity on virtually any issue by any candidate (except a couple who are really outspoken and deeply positioned).  But then I remembered that it is the nature of the political beast.

Right now, the presidential race in America is up for grabs.  All candidates are trying to do is to not say anything really stupid, or get caught doing anything that may, fairly or unfairly, make them look like a psycho (note to self: the phrase "yeeeee haaaaaaa" really loud and animated won't garner any votes).  It stinks really, this whole process.............so we do the best we can.  But the burr in the saddle for me is when people won't just say what they believe - they just won't!  That must be a characteristic of a president I would think, because we should know for whom we are voting and what they really think about things.  I wish that "Yes" meant "Yes" and "is" meant "is" and we didn't have to wordsmith everything down to sheer nothingness.  But, this is what comes when we feel the need to manipulate.

Jesus doesn't like manipulation.  It's against His nature, and He doesn't like seeing it imposed on His creation either.  That's why he told the people listening to Him on a grassy hillside that all the swearing of oaths and swearing on your mama's grave and swearing on a stack of Bibles, etc. is not fitting for a kingdom hearted citizen.  Because all that swearing was really aimed at manipulation - getting your way - and Jesus says that is not how His kingdom works.

His kingdom is one of freedom and core integrity.  That means if you want in the kingdom, you have access no matter what your previous status.  It also means that if you don't want in, He won't force you there.  But what it means for a kingdom citizen is that we don't have to manipulate anyone to get our way, or trump up our position by swearing up and down how much we are telling the truth.  Truth tellers who have a reputation for truth telling need only say 'Yes' or 'No' and that will suffice.

What a kingdom that will be.  'Yes' will mean 'Yes' and 'No' will mean 'No'.  No hidden agenda, no manipulation, no positioning.  It will be without guile.

Maybe Jesus wants us to live that way now.  Maybe that is part of what He meant when He taught us to pray "Your Kingdom Come......on earth as it is in heaven."  Hmmmmm, you think so?  Well, I think I know what Jesus would say.

Yes.