schedule in sabbath rest
Schedule time to rest like your faith depends on it — because it does.
When was the last time that you RESTED? And when I say rest, I don’t mean laying horizontally to watch a few hours of Hallmark or Netflix (although that can be fun). When was the last time that you recharged, reset and reoriented? No matter how busy, hectic, low-key or dull your life may seem — we all need to rest. It’s woven into our DNA. And it’s beautiful! Here’s why…
Two thousand years ago, God created the heavens and the earth. After beginning His beautiful plan in creation, God rested. Genesis 2:2 says, “And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work He had done.”
Here’s the big question: WHY DID GOD REST? Did He need to rest because He was tired and worn out from creating the heavens, earth, animals and mankind? Nah. We’re talking about the God of the Universe, our All-Powerful Father! The truth is that God has endlessly capacity and capability — He didn’t rest on the seventh day because He was tired.
He rested for our benefit. He rested to set a sweet example for us.
It would be nice to say that I didn’t need anything — that I didn’t need to rest. That I didn’t need to reset and recharge because I could handle life. But that’s just not the truth. We were created to need God and need rest… and it’s actually the sweetest thing. Needs aren’t bad or debilitating. They weren’t given to us as punishment. They are gifts — given to us so we could thrive in this life, connect with God deeper and be even more effective for the kingdom.
This sounds SO BACKWARD, right?! You and I live in a culture where we hear “hustle” and “grind” everyday of our lives. We’re suffocated by the notion that we have to be constantly busy and if we’re not running around with our hands full, we’re falling short. But society is missing the point.
We need rest because we need God. We need rest because we can’t live our lives for Him without it. We need rest because it helps us get closer to His heart.
See… rest is a grace-filled gift from God. All of this points to His grace, compassion and love. He knows us so well… so well that He gave us the gift of rest — the opportunity to choose to be still with Him, amidst our schedules and unique lives.
My pastor described rest in this way: “Rest is reorientation. Maybe Adam and Eve needed an orientation on the seventh day. They needed uninterrupted time to be with God, get to know Him, get to know themselves, get away from distractions… even the good ones.”
After all, you and I were created to be in a relationship with God. What’s a relationship without uninterrupted time to get to know each other… to get closer?
Some of you may be reading this and think, “But if I rest, if I take a break… does that mean I’m weak? Does that mean that I’m not a hard worker?” Girl… I get you. It’s easy to believe the lie that our work equals our worth — that our intimacy with God is based on how much we accomplish. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Ephesians 2:8 reminds us that God’s gift of salvation isn’t based on anything WE do — but everything that HE did.
Your identity is not in what you accomplish or by how much you hustle. Neither is mine. Our identity is rooted in WHO we are loved by — in our sweet Father who created the universe in six days and decided it would be good for us to reconnect with Him on the seventh.
When / How Should We Rest?
In the Old Testament section of the Bible, there was this thing called “The Sabbath.” In short, the Sabbath was the seventh day of the week, meant for rest and rest only. There was to be no work, no nothing. It was a holy day (which means a day set a part, a special day). But why was it so special? It was special because it was the day God rested.
So here’s my encouragement: Take your Sabbath rest on Sunday. Feel free to do more rest throughout the week, but set aside Sunday as a day STRICTLY and ONLY for rest. I have been so guilty of doing school work and other things during Sunday, when I should really be Sabbath-ing, and Sabbath-ing HARD. My pastor encouraged us a few weeks ago to spend Sunday in complete, uninterrupted time with Jesus.
Go to church. Spend time with your family. Read the Bible lots. Listen to some faith podcasts. Have encouraging conversation with a dear friend. Pray often. Lay down and just be STILL. The point of this day is to make sure it’s focused on reconnecting with God, getting to know Him more and not letting anything of the world distract us.
BUT HERE’S A WARNING… As humans, we tend to forget about our needs. (Girl, I’m preaching to myself too.) It’s easy to think that we’re “Iron Man” (okay bad example but it works) and that we don't need to rest because we’re invincible. However, we need to rest otherwise we’ll fall. Exhaustion and burnout will happen. And we all know that when we’re running on empty, our actions will end up the same. Our dreams of working hard for God and loving our people well cannot be done to its fullest without resting.
So are you ready to rest with me?
My hope… my prayer is that you would rest with me today. That you would see God’s heart for you pounding through this article — that you would see how desperately you need to rest. I hope that you would see that rest isn’t a punishment or burden — it’s a gift. And once you receive it and put it into practice weekly, may you see your faith, effectiveness and love for God grow immeasurably.
Let’s get to resting. Who’s with me?
