‘Tis the Season! (2)

“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year.”  Exodus 23.14

Holidays and time
Holidays are necessarily about time – how we understand it and what use we make of it. For most Americans, holidays signal a change in the way we use our time. Instead of dragging ourselves into work for another day of more of the same, we sleep in, get a leisurely start to the day, and then spend the rest of it relaxing, shopping, recreating, or maybe puttering around in the yard. It’s time for us, after all, and we need to make the most of it.

Time that normally would be invested in making a living is instead given over to whatever we might choose to do. Holidays thus represent a laying hold of time for something other than its normal purposes, and the effect of this is to remind us that, at the end of the day, life, and all the time of our lives, is all about us.

In one sense, this reflects the Biblical idea behind holy days, although it’s nearly 180 degrees off the mark. In ancient Israel God called His people to interrupt their ordinary use of time and devote a portion of the time of their lives to honoring three holy seasons: Passover and Unleavened Bread, in the spring; Harvest, or the Feast of Weeks, in the early summer; and Ingathering, or the Feast of Tabernacles, in the fall. For each of these feasts the people were to journey to Jerusalem, where they would observe various religious activities over a period of several days. Normal routines and responsibilities were set aside so that the people of Israel could participate in these divinely-appointed holy days.

Israel’s holy days
Each of the holy seasons of ancient Israel was designed to remind the people of their special status as God’s people. Passover and Unleavened Bread recalled their deliverance from Egypt. During the Feast of Weeks the people acknowledged the first blessings of their harvest, reminding them that God was sovereign in providing for their needs. During the Feast of Tabernacles, when the harvest was plentiful, the people lived in make-shift booths, reminding them of how God sustained them during their journey through the wilderness toward the land of promise.

These holy days were seasons of remembering, reflecting, and re-orienting the people’s use of their “ordinary” time. Each of these seasons was filled with activities designed to engage the people in refocusing on the Lord, recounting His blessings, and rededicating themselves to His covenant and its requirements of love for God and neighbor.

The people of Israel, in other words, were expected to manage their time in such a way as to reinforce their relationship with God and renew their distinction as His chosen, redeemed, and blessed people. Of course, faithful parents taught these lessons to their children throughout the year, and priests and Levites were equally diligent in reminding the people, at weekly Sabbaths, of their special privileges and duties as the people of God.

But the holy days offered a unique combination of community, drama, teaching, worship, and participation which it was important for the people to make the time for each year. Because in so doing they acknowledged their dependence on God and replayed the many facets of His character and covenant.

The holy days of Israel were above all else designed to bring the reality of the unseen realm into the daily experience of human life with special intensity.

Holiday opportunities
Our own holidays are rich in opportunities for making the most of the time of our lives in ways that can renew our commitment to the Lord and our involvement in the divine economy.

The word “holy” means to be “set apart” – set apart from normal, everyday use for the special purpose of honoring God and being renewed in Him. Unless our holy days are thus consecrated, planned, and pursued, we will be in danger of employing them mainly in one form or another of mere self-indulgence.

The time of our lives belongs to God. He gives us time as a gift, and He knows best how we should use our time in order to realize our reason for being. Holy days can play an important role in helping us to use the time of our lives as God intends, but we will need to redeem our holy days and recover their true meaning and use if this is to be the case.

Next steps: What are your plans for making the most of the time of our holy days this season? Ask the Lord to give you wisdom in how to make the best use of this time for His purposes (Ps. 90.12; Eph. 5.15-17). Then talk with family or friends about your thoughts for capturing all the time of this holy season for the holy purposes of God.

T. M. Moore

We’re taking a 3-week intermission from our series on The Disciplined Life to review three archive series on the meaning of Christmas. This week’s study, ‘Tis the Season, is part 1 of a 3-part series on Christmas, As Advertised, and is available as a free download.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.