Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Sabbath

I have been thinking about what rest we need, and what is us just being lazy. One excuse that I had at some point caught myself using was that we need a day of rest just doing whatever we wanted. I asked one of my roommates, Brad, what he thought about the idea. He reminded me that we never read about Jesus having time to just relax. While this is not saying that Jesus did not relaxed, I decided to look up what the bible says about the Sabbath.

Exodus 20:8-11 (New International Version)

8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.


Keeping in mind that we are under the new covenant, it seems as though the spirit of the Sabbath is about the LORD. I know that when I take a "day of rest" it usually means that I played many games and did not think about the LORD. I think that the danger in this is that it keeps us from becoming close to God. If our rest is becoming an idol, something that has higher importance than our LORD, then it is not beneficial at that extreme.

What would it look like for our week to be centered about Jesus, not just Sunday and maybe a couple of other days?

Posted by at

8 comments:

  1. Chris RohlederMarch 2, 2009 at 9:27 AM

    This is so true. We lead such busy lives most of the time. Busy lives that push God to the outskirts. And then when we do have days of rest, we still do the same thing, push God to the outskirts. We take days of rest to do everything we want instead of taking days to rest in one who can do everything.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JoshMarch 2, 2009 at 12:26 PM

    I think its human nature that draws us back from constantly living a life fully devoted to God. At times I think I need a break from everything, just to relax and breathe. Sometimes I feel that in my relationship with God I need to accomplish something-- I need to encourage others, carry my cross, read my bible, on goes my "checklist" of spiritual things. However He wants to have a relationship with us: He wants us at our best and worst; in our strengths and weaknesses. Its okay to just be still with God.
    But we don't want to be still, at least our culture dictates. We always need to be busy with something better, more fun, more, more, more... I think we as Christians have bought into this belief, often to our demise. We have a hard time just being still (and I don't necessarily mean physically, I meant mostly resting in God's presence-- still in emotional embrace with Him). We drive our minds into constant thought about the next step or into full distraction by an alternative reality (reading, games, etc).
    Let me know if this raises questions-- I hope this is relatively clear!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMarch 3, 2009 at 1:54 PM

    I know one component we kind of do right is community - on Sunday mornings, at lunch, and at FOCUS on Sunday nights we sort of "recharge" each other, with a focus being on Christ. No, not all the discussion is all about God, but I think by being together in community we give our spirits a rest from the world.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Charlie MartinMarch 4, 2009 at 9:34 AM

    I think you're right, and it's all too easy for us to idolize laziness. I often feel like after a long week of school and whatnot that I "deserve" to just be able to sit back for hours and chill. I think what happens is like what Chris said, where I end up pushing God aside during the school time, and then some more during the chillin'. I think spending time alone with God can be relaxing too, yet so often I'd rather find something unproductive to do.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kenji MateoMarch 4, 2009 at 12:28 PM

    this sounds like what i wrote about in my blog but just a little different. the issue is what is our priority - is it God or is it what i want.the Sabbath should be all about God and not another day to rest or that extra day to do homework.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chris SeilerMarch 4, 2009 at 3:03 PM

    I kinda wonder about this balance. For me my "work week" lasts from Sunday 7am to Thursday 5pm. I absolutely love going to NEC, having lunch with people, playing in the band, and all that, but by then end of it, I'm tired. Which is unfortunate because it's at the beginning of my week. It's not during FOCUS or during playing that I'm tired, it's the moment that I get back to my apartment that I feel exhausted.

    So, I go from meeting to meeting, glad that I'm at each one, excited to be there. But by Thursday I'm ready to stop and relax. One thing that's very relaxing to me to play/program a computer game.

    Is it wrong to have something that I know is effective in letting me unwind? What does it look like to get energy from God? How do we do that?

    ReplyDelete
  7. BlakeMarch 4, 2009 at 3:45 PM

    I agree I often think rest = do whatever I want, mostly without God. I also like what Josh said about resting in God. The book The Shack talks about that and I don't really understand it. Like Josh I usually think I need to be doing something for God, always actively doing something for him. I'm not really sure what it means to rest in God. :(

    ReplyDelete
  8. BlakeMarch 4, 2009 at 3:46 PM

    Ok so the verification text I had to enter to post that comment to show I was a person was the word "curses" -- creepy!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)