February 23

Is there Rest + Delight in your Sabbath?

The word, Sabbath, means to stop or to keep.  It is usually defined as a day of religious observance and abstinence from work.  Traditionally, for most Christians, the Sabbath is Sunday and often consists of some formal or informal worship time to experience what God has created for us.

Or not.

In the days of the Old Testament, one of the important things the Sabbath provided for God's people was a day of rest from slavery.  So, what enslaves you on the Sabbath? The office. Electronics. Shopping. Family obligations. Food. Your list could be endless. 

Let's face it.  For many of us, our Sabbath has become dry and routine and not very different from the other six days of the week. 

Perhaps God has something else in mind for you.  Try this definition: Sabbath = Rest (from the things that enslave you) + Delight (in what God has created for you). 

If you truly celebrate your Sabbath with Rest + Delight, what would it look like?  Could there be celebration in your worship? Delight in this day that God has created for you? Could you be free -- if just for this day -- of the things that enslave you?

My bet is that in your Rest + Delight, you will hear what God has been telling you all along.

By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all his work.  Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating He had done.  Genesis 2:2-3.

Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.  Mark 2:27.