Most of us are skilled at maximizing our calendars. We have become masters at doing more with less. We work hard, we work long, and we get up the next day to do it all over again. On top of that, most of us are wearing multiple hats. We juggle family calendars, our responsibilities, our honey-do lists, our careers, our relationships, our church, and our hobbies… We have 168 hours in a week, and we find ourselves regularly wishing that we have just a few more. Can you relate?
I can. I am a goal driven guy, I enjoy working hard, and I find myself regularly wishing that I had more rest. Here is the problem… although I crave rest, I have found that I am not that good at it. Now, don’t get me wrong; I take a regular day off, but I am often terrible at resting. Again, can you relate?
The past couple weeks God has been reintroducing me to an important principle called Sabbath. Tucked away in the 10 commandments is this odd commandment to “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” (Exodus 20:8) Often, this is the one commandment that we, as 21st-century Christians, don’t know how exactly to apply to our modern lives.
Do you remember the creation scene in Genesis 1? After God’s grand creation work week, He stepped back and said, “This is good… This is really good.” Then, after His work week concluded, He did something incredible… He rested. God rested. He enjoyed His good work, and He set a pattern for His creation to follow.
Hebrews 4:9-11 says,
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
I love this verse! I want to enter God’s rest, and according to the writer of Hebrews, the one who enters into the true rest of God knows how to follow God’s example and rest from his own work. We are designed by God to Sabbath, and we are created to follow our God’s example.
When we Sabbath…
- We honor God through obedience.
- We operate as we are designed.
- We remind ourselves that our value is not in what we produce.
- We remind ourselves that the world won’t fall apart without us holding it together.
- We increase our trust in the Lord.
- We give ourselves the time to enjoy the fruit of our work.
- And…. we experience God’s rest.
So, join me in reclaiming the Sabbath. Join me in reclaiming rest. Join me in both working hard and resting hard for the glory of God. This may mean that we unplug from our phones for a day, that we put down our devices for several consecutive hours, and that we intentionally engage in life with our family and friends, read a good book, watch a movie, or go for a walk… Sabbath is intentionally stepping out your work and placing aside your need to produce, in order to step into true rest in Christ.
There is rest in God… join me in stepping away from our work in order that we may enter into it. We are designed by our God for Sabbath rest. So, let’s enjoy it.