When was the last time you really rested–not because you were tired, but because you could and you chose to do so?
Why would anyone choose to rest when they are not tired?
And do you know anyone who is not tired (at least psychologically, if not physically)?
What inspired my pondering today was that I finished yesterday with six weeks of substitute preaching for a pastor who was on Sabbatical.
Many—if not most—people don’t understand the concept of Sabbatical. It seems like a fancy word for an extended vacation.
And in a culture where we wear exhaustion as a badge of honor and burnout is a part of our common vernacular, the idea of getting away as recovery has more commonly entered the discussion.
My intent today is not to sound too “churchy” or “religious” because I think that people of varying worldviews share in the common experience of needing to get away.
The concept of Sabbatical, however, does have its origin in the Biblical creation account and its purpose transcends the particulars of worldview and vocation.
“Sabbatical” finds its roots in “Sabbath,” a day of rest on the seventh day of the week (from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday in Judaism) commemorating God’s rest on the seventh day of creation after completing His work of creating.
“On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.”
(Genesis 2:2-3)
One of my favorite seminary professors, Dr. David Garland, said that God did not rest on the seventh day because He was tired from all the work He did. After all, the Bible records that God spoke the creation into existence.
God: “Whew! All that talking has worn me out! I better take a day off tomorrow!”
“No,” said Dr. Garland, “He desisted out of satisfaction.”
In other words, He stopped because He could and He chose to do so. He felt no compulsion to accomplish anything.
Sabbath, in its original and most pure form, was a day to be satisfied, to acknowledge and celebrate the reality that God is our provider and sustainer, to give up our compulsion to achieve, and to simply be.
Sabbath, in its original and most pure form, was a day to be satisfied, to acknowledge and celebrate the reality that God is our provider and sustainer, to give up our compulsion to achieve, and to simply be. Share on XAnd then, as so often happens, people decided there needed to be more rules. So the religious folks began to talk about what you should and shouldn’t do on the Sabbath day. And when followers of Jesus began to meet for public worship on the first day of the week (in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus), many of the “Sabbath rules” got carried over.
This resulted in a focus on activity rather than celebration and a judgmental distinction between the Sabbath “keepers” who went to church and the Sabbath “breakers” who went about their normal lives.
There is so much more I could say about this, but let me “bottom-line” it for you:
As long as we live our lives as if what WE can accomplish and provide for ourselves is all that matters, and as long as we see rest as recovery from work rather than restoration of perspective, we will be sentencing ourselves to a lifetime of bondage and weariness.
And Amazingness will constantly allude us because we will be working to achieve it rather than living to discover it.
God’s gift of rest is about rhythms, not rules.
As long as we live our lives as if what WE can accomplish and provide for ourselves is all that matters, and as long as we see rest as recovery from work rather than restoration of perspective, we will be sentencing ourselves to a… Share on XBe amazing today, my friend.
