ManfredMann: "Machines"

This band and its leader were popular during the British Invasion of the sixties. They had a following in the UK but they achieved only a few hits in North America. But Manfred Mann wasn't content with love songs so he penned this science fiction song about machines running our lives. Listen to it here.

It seems odd to me that God had to impose rest on the Israelites. After all, today's people feel that two days off is too short. Even so, rest is necessary for any people group.

Exodus 20:9 and 10 (Bible in Basic English) reads, "On six days do all your work: But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on that day you are to do no work, you or your son or your daughter, your man-servant or your woman-servant, your cattle or the man from a strange country who is living among you:"

So God set one day in seven for people to worship him and enjoy respite from their labours. But the Pharisees took the word "rest" to extremes. They invented so many regulations on every little detail of people's lives that the Sabbath became a burden.

One example of this was recorded in Luke 13:14 (BBE) when Jesus healed a woman who couldn't stand upright. "And the ruler of the Synagogue was angry because Jesus had made her well on the Sabbath, and he said to the people, 'There are six days in which men may do work: so come on those days to be made well, and not on the Sabbath.'"

Jesus had the perfect answer to those rule bound leaders when the disciples plucked some grain heads. Mark 2:27 (BBE) says, "And he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath;'"

So enjoy the God-given reward for your work. As King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:22 (BBE), "So I saw that there is nothing better than for a man to have joy in his work--because that is his reward. Who will make him see what will come after him?"

If Christ hasn't given us rest from this evil world by Saturday, I hope to post about the empires of this world and how they'll all fall.

Saturday Song: Manfred Man, "I Can't Believe What You Say"

Have you ever known a person who says one thing but does another? I'm sure we've all met somebody like that or been like that at one time.

This is a song about a girl who claimed to love her boyfriend and that she'd marry him. By her actions, he could tell that she was lying.

Listen to this single here.

Fruit is often used as a metaphor in the Bible. It's an indication of results. Even in secular language, we say that somebody had a fruitful or fruitless search or endeavour.

Jesus said that we can tell what a person is truly like by how they behave. It's easy to boast but the proof is in the results. Matthew 7:16 (KJV) says, "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"

The Apostle Paul also showed that we can tell a person's character by their actions. After listing the fruits of wickedness, he wrote in Galatians 5:22 (KJV), "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,"

As he also wrote in Ephesians 5:9 (KJV), "(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)" In other words, righteous is as righteous does.

It's obvious as well when somebody's faking piety. God looks at people's hearts, that is, their characters. He doesn't judge by externals like nice clothing and lofty promises.

So, what do you think of this song and what I wrote. Please leave me a reply. It makes my day when people do that. I wish you a happy and productive weekend as well.

By the way, Monday's post will be about how statistics don't reveal how many Christians are real.