Embrace Sabbath Rest
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for
the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their
works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter
that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of
disobedience.
– Hebrews 4:9-11
It’s a study I need. Desperately. It’s titled Breathe and it’s led by Priscilla
Shirer. What’s the topic? Sabbath rest. Or, maybe I should just say rest. It’s
about God giving us permission to rest.
Wow. There is power in that. Freedom. We know about
Sunday. We talk about the day of rest. We just don’t think it applies to us. We
haven’t earned a rest. We have too much to do. And don’t forget the kids. Their
activities never cease, even on Sunday.
I’m not sure where I acquired the notion that it’s not
okay to rest. Maybe it came from my parents, who questioned me pointedly if I
sat down for even a moment to rest. I was expected to always be working, to
always be serving, to always be doing their bidding. Few people realized how
long my days were.
Now my parents are gone but their voices linger in my
head. I don’t want to be lazy. I can’t be lazy. There are too many animals to
tend, a farm to manage, and an income to earn. But I am tired. And I feel like
I can’t sit down with a book or magazine and simply rest. Even on Sunday.
How about you? When do you rest? I know there are
people who veg out in front of the television. We always hear about those
people. I don’t personally know any of them. The people I know are too busy juggling
life’s demands to sit down and do nothing, even for a short period of time.
I look at our children and wonder if they will ever
understand the concept of rest or Sabbath. They attend school five days each
week. They also have ball practice or dance or other after school activities.
Even Sunday is now filled with dance competitions or ball tournaments.
I asked one mom, “When do they rest?” She looked at me
as though I’d lost my mind. “Oh, they enjoy it,” she assured me.
Seriously? How can they not be tired? They never have
down time to simply play and enjoy being a child.
It’s a vicious cycle. And we don’t want to set
boundaries, for them or for us, because what would people think? Do we truly
believe that the more we do the better people we become? Do we think we have to
fill every waking moment with some activity?
I get it. I do. I’m there with you. I’ve only made it
through one week of this study and my eyes have opened. It doesn’t mean I’ve
changed my behavior. That’s a habit that will take some time to reprogram. But
it really does reveal to me how destructive being busy all the time can be.
It also tells me that God never intended for any of us
to be overworked and stressed all the time. He created Sabbath for us to rest
and recharge. God modeled that behavior for us. He gave us the freedom to do
nothing for a time. We have His permission. It’s time to embrace rest, to allow
ourselves to be filled up again so that we might continue the work God has
called us to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment