Today is my Sabbath. What does that mean? Originally, the Sabbath was the seventh day of the week, traditionally Saturday. God established the Sabbath as a reminder of His priority in our lives. God created the universe and all it contains in six days, and “rested” on the seventh. I put rested in quotes, because I’m certain God wasn’t tired. After all, He is God. The Sabbath was God’s creation for us, as Jesus reminded us during His earthly ministry. It’s purpose was for us to be renewed, restored and refreshed, as well as so we would remember who we are and whose we are.
When we work seven days a week, or when we’re on “24/7,” we find it easy to think the world revolves around us, that we are the reason so much is getting done. We are the reason our organizations or churches are healthy, or growing, or whatever label we use to show forward progress. The truth is as John Eldridge puts it, “There’s a way thinks work.” In his book on prayer, titled Moving Mountains, Eldridge points out God has ordered the universe so that there’s a way thinks work. Simple examples are logs float down stream, and items dropped from a roof fall to the ground.
In our lives when we ignore the principle of Sabbath, over time our lives will stop working as they were designed by God to work. God created us for rhythms of work and rest. During the work times we are to give our best empowered by His Spirit, and when we rest we are to stop to be renewed, restored, refreshed and to focus on God, to remember He is God and we are not. As we rest and reflect, we will worship God praising Him for who He is and thanking Him for all He does. When we stop to remember He is God and has provided us with every good and perfect gift, we will be moved to thanksgiving and to supplication and intercession, to asking God to meet our needs and the needs of those around us.
Unless we pause for Sabbath, we run the danger of assuming too much about ourselves and too little about God. The too much we assume about ourselves is that we are the reason things work. We are the reason the organization is succeeding. We are the reason people’s lives are being changed. We must always remember: God uses us to accomplish all those things, but God doesn’t need us. He did create the universe in six days! I’m grateful for those who have pushed me to honor my Sabbath, to stop to be renewed, restored and refreshed, and to reflect on who God is and why we worship Him.
That doesn’t mean I never “do” anything on my Sabbath, but more and more, my goal is to break the routine of my weekly work schedule, to invest more time alone with God than I ordinarily do day-to-day, and invest some time with Nancy where we enjoy some aspect of God’s creation, or build our relationship or our relationships with another individual, couple or family not for church purposes, but simply to enjoy God’s presence among and within us.
How are you doing at keeping a Sabbath on a weekly basis? Do you break the routine of work with genuine rest, restoration, renewal, reflection, and honoring God for who He is? Take five minutes right now to ask yourself those questions, and respond honestly. Based on your answers, adjust your schedule to include a God-honoring Sabbath, and remember the Sabbath was made for you, by a God who loves each of us as if there were only one of us.
Here’s to leading better, by preparing for or participating in a weekly Sabbath–today!