stephen R Harrison

Sunday morning I went running early before church. I vividly remember running down a road with grass almost as tall as me and I put my hand out to touch it as I passed by, almost giving the weeds “high fives”. Later that day, someone said they saw me running that morning and had a question if that was good to do on the Sabbath. They asked, “What does God allow on the Sabbath?” My first response was it wasn’t the Sabbath, it was Sunday. My second response was joking with them. I said, “I’m not sure if running is ‘good’, but they say it is…and I was listening to a sermon while I was doing it so it’s got to be holy.”

I’m not sure of their entire motive in asking me that question, but it stuck with me that day. Yesterday evening I rode my bike down the same path and saw those tall weeds again. Instantly the Holy Spirit reminded me of Luke 6 where Jesus and His disciples were walking through a wheat field and they rubbed the husks off it and ate the grain. That made the Pharisees mad. Jesus’ response was, “David and his men ate the sacred loaves of bread because they were hungry”. Did not satisfy them, He said, “I am the Lord of the Sabbath”. And the Holy Spirit reminded me that the Sabbath was made for man and not the other way around (Mark 2:27). Those weeds of grace on my bike ride reminded me not to be legalistic. They reminded me its ok to run on Sunday, even if I wasn’t listening to a sermon. They reminded me God’s grace supersedes man’s guilt. God’s love surpasses man’s law.