Profitable Profanity

“Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”” ‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭13:17-18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/neh.13.17-18.nkjv
The popular grouse about the lack of interest in sabbatical disengagement is the senseless loss of revenue and the apparent lack of productivity. Otherwise, the disengagement often makes sense as long as there is no threat of loss in the profit margin. When the forex market is open with attractive trading opportunities, it does not often make sense to play religion with the need to trade spiritual fellowship with material follower-ship. But why did Nehemiah pick fault in the bargain between profitability and profanity: “What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day?” The concern here is obviously not the sense of profit on the Sabbath; it is the lack of sense in the profanity on the Sabbath. Today, the Sabbath is just any set apart period of fellowship with God and rest from physical and mental engagement with work. Unfortunately, the body can be physically present in fellowship; but spiritually absent and actively minded with professional engagement. Then, the heart is profitably engaged in profanity, with consequent loss of sweetness in fellowship. And like he prayed, everyone needs the mercy of God in order to get spared from the pressure and profanity in profitable engagement.

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