perfect post for a Sunday sick day

Yesterday was misery for me.  I was like someone was blowing a balloon up in my head and then trying to pop it through my ear.  When I wasn't cowering in a dark corner of the house, hiding from the light and the noise, I was thanking God for the dizzying relief of some leftover tablets from the medicine cabinet.  Today I feel much better than yesterday but still wincing at loud noises.  Combine that with more than a week of In-laws visiting and one of the busiest home school weeks we've ever experienced thus far and what you have is a lost boy and a blue-eyed girl thinking our rest will be best at home this Sunday.

 This morning I woke with feelings and thoughts of guilt over wanting to stay at home rather than gather with the believers today.  Granted, I should want to be with my brothers and sisters as often as possible and I don't do everything I can to be in daily contact with them.  But that is not why I was beating myself up this morning.  Today it is more about sinning by being home on the Lords Day. 

By God's providence I read this morning where Arthur at The voice of one crying out in suburbia has shared more of his thoughts on the sabbath and how it fits into the creation order.

"See when I read Genesis 1, the primary message I see is not the seventh day. It is God creating the heavens and the earth, God creating ex nihilo all that we see around us and on the sixth day God's crowning achievement, creating man in His own image. The day of rest is what He did after He carried out His primary purpose of creation and creation was not merely a vehicle to get Him to that seventh day. Genesis 1 is not a story primarily about the Sabbath. It is a story of creation by the Creator, a grand framework to understand who God is and who man is in relation to Him."

You should read the rest of his post.  What he writes resounds with me because I know he hails from the sola-scriptura side of any argument which sometimes leaves him with a different opinion than our other "reformed" brothers.  I can most definitely relate to that.

So on this morning I am reminded that to be separate from the rest of the body of Christ leaves me lacking and incomplete and I realize that guilt over not gathering with them today is not from God.  I am resting in Christ today and I look forward to my next opportunity to join with believers that we may be mutually edified.