I woke up about a week ago at 4:00am, wired awake by the sense that an ominous doom was hanging over me. I felt like my life was going to end, and that I desperately needed to do something about it. The only problem was that nothing was wrong.
It’s clear I was experiencing anxiety from working too much and resting too little. But I don’t just mean rest in the sense of “physical sleep.”
In Genesis, after God created the world and everything in it, he took a full day to rest with Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:2-3). This was the origin of the Sabbath. And they obviously weren’t sleeping all day long.
In the New Testament, Jesus said that man was not created for the Sabbath, but rather the Sabbath was created for man (Mark 2:27). It was, and always will be, a gift. Even before our fall into sin.
How much more, then, should we embrace a weekly rhythm of work and rest in our broken bodies? It should go without saying that we need rest. But the types of rest we make time for is important.
Studies show that being on social media, playing video games, or watching television (especially the news) doesn’t help us rest. It keys us up and adds anxiety.
So, when we take our day off, we are doing ourselves no favors by wasting it on video games and Netflix. The temptation to do this is way too strong in my life, and I need to constantly fight it. When I don’t feel good, it’s easy to numb myself with entertainment rather than face my issues and deal with them in a Godly manner.
Lately, as I’ve been working on finishing a novel on Genesis titled EDEN, it was profoundly moving for me to realize that the original Sabbath was focused on peace-filled relationship between God and man. They relaxed together, ate food together, and grew closer. That was God’s original plan for the Sabbath: unbroken, life-giving togetherness.
I’ve noticed that when I pattern my Sabbath after that – meaning that I prioritize true quality time with God through prayer and Scripture, and with my wife and daughter through undistracted time together – I feel truly rested and recharged for the week.
When, instead, I fill it with entertainment or to-do lists or anxiety over my writing business and work, I despair through the new week.
Spiritual, emotional, and physical rest are practical joys that God has given us. We would enjoy life (and God) more if we took them seriously.
PRAYER
Lord—help us to truly rest in you. Be our fortress! Be our protection (Psalm 91). Save us from slavery to our own desires. Whether that’s the desire to minister, to get things done, to be successful, or to entertain ourselves. Remind us that we exist to love and worship and glorify and know you. And that if we aren’t walking in intimacy with you, all our efforts to bring others to you will offer us no benefit on our final day. Strengthen us to walk by your Spirit every moment of every day, so that we can go about the rest of our week working diligently doing good in your name. Thank you! Amen.
DIG DEEPER
Institute your own true Sabbath this week. Choose one day and set it aside. A couple regular chores are fine, especially because cleaning can help you feel more at peace. But don’t work on your side business, or plan a big event, etc. Also, avoid screen time. No smartphones, no Netflix, no movies, no video games. Prioritize being with people you love. And carve out serious time to read your Bible and immerse yourself in prayer and worship. The point of it is to enjoy deeper communion with Christ and with others, and to let the love you feel from God and your loved ones energize you for the week. If you do this, let me know how it goes by commenting on the post below!
Yes and amen! Thanks Bren!
You said for us to pick a day. The problem with that is God has already picked a day for our Sabbath rest, you can read it in the fourth commandmant
Ed, this is an example of the Pharisaical thinking that Jesus rebuked. “Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man.” A pastor can’t have his Sabbath rest on Sunday. Nor can the pastor whose service is on Saturday have a Sabbath rest on Saturday. The traditional Sabbath was Saturday, not Sunday. Yet modern Evangelicals say it’s Sunday. Who decides what day it is? Surely, according to how important you hold the Scriptures to be, you are not the one deciding which day it is. So, where did you find in Scripture which day the Sabbath needs to be? And what do you do with Jesus’ rejection of the strict legalistic application of the Sabbath? Or the words of the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection, when they spoke of what elements of the law the new Christian gentiles should keep? Some responsibilities outweigh other responsibilities, in the same way that Jesus healed on the Sabbath. The point of the Sabbath is that it is a gift we should embrace by faith, through love. Do you think it makes you more spiritual to embrace the day you think God intended for the Sabbath? That attitude is rooted in pride, not the Spirit of Christ. I am encouraging myself and others to embrace a weekly Sabbath rest. My conscience is clear.
God created the Sabbath. It is written in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1:17). In verses 8-11 He explain how to observe the Sabbath.
Mila, he does not fully explain how to observe the Sabbath in those verses. If you would read them carefully again, you would see they are too ambiguous to make such a claim. It does not say WHICH day the Sabbath should be celebrated. Only that every seven days you take a Sabbath rest day. Neither does it explain what constitutes “work.” Is doing the dishes work? Is shoveling work? Or is only doing the job you get paid for work? What about working on a creative project? Is that work? These issues are not so black and white as you think. The Jews had a very difficult time discussing amongst themselves how to live out verses 8-11. Look at their history of Sabbath rituals and you will see why. Of course, the verses in Exodus are the core, the beginning, but they do not define everything, and all the Jews knew it. Jesus and the apostles knew it. This is why they argued about it. Are you above the apostles? Are you more trained than the Pharisees, in the law? Certainly you have not studied like they studied (and neither have I, even though I study diligently), so we are not above these same issues. We all must consider how we can best live those verses out. To do that, we need the wisdom of the Spirit, and an attitude of willingness to consider these issues. That is what this post is about. We need to think seriously about theses issues, and if your intent is to stimulate honest thought and encourage, then thank you for your comment.
Well said and perfectly explained for many who don’t understand that concept. Thank you and many blessings for offering all of this. Greatly looking forward to reading more of your gifted and inspired writing!
Thank you, Kathy, for your encouragement! I hope it is helpful!
What a blessing to receive this in my email inbox today! I am right there with you in your thinking about the Sabbath. I have been struggling to keep my sabbath day “holy” and do all the things you mention. Distractions have become so prevalent in our society today. They are exhausting and we are so in need of the sabbath rest. I am thankful our Lord reminded me of that today through you writing! Eagerly awaiting the your new endeavors.
Thank you for this inspiring article, and for all the clarifications in response to those asked!