Do you ever feel guilty about taking a break, just stopping to rest?
There’s part of you that’s saying “I am so fried I just need to rest” but another part of you is saying “But there’s so much that still needs to be done” or “but this other person (coworker, friend, spouse) is still going strong” or “but (fill in the blank) really needs me right now” or….
Let’s face it: there’s always going to be stuff that needs done. That’s a fact of living a human life. And our ego is always going to remind us of that fact— there’s no letting up.
I think that’s why God instituted the Sabbath. He knew our propensity to push ourselves beyond our limits, and He knew He had to set an example and a principle that rest is a necessary thing, even a sacred thing as we live our life. God’s original commandment was to keep a time of rest to be holy, separate, set apart, sacred— and not just when you got caught up with all your to-do list or when it was convenient, but to set apart time every week.
Now does that mean you have to get all religious about it and have a whole list of do’s and dont’s about a time of rest? No, not unless having a list actually helps you keep it and doesn’t just inspire more unneeded guilt. The Bible clearly shows that Jesus kept a time of rest, a Sabbath, but just as clearly shows that He didn’t feel bound by any particular set of rules either.
He saw through to the true principle of living that it embodied, that the Sabbath was created for man. Think about that, that God created a time of rest FOR us, to benefit us, not because He wanted to add one more rule to our lives, but because we needed it, we needed a regular sacred time of rest.
However you structure it, by all means keep it. Keep a Sabbath, a time of rest each week in your life. It doesn’t have to be a whole day. It doesn’t even have to be Sunday. It doesn’t have to be just sitting around doing nothing. But God wants it to be a time of rest for us. It is a blessing that God earnestly wishes to give us. So let us receive it and be blessed.
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