Stop the Busyness
| These are the things the
Lord has commanded you to do: For six days, work is to be done, but the
seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Ex.
35:1, 2, NIV. |
For too many
of us the Sabbath is a busy day—just a different kind of busyness. We rush
to get dressed, rush to get to church on time, and rush home to get a meal
prepared for company. Perhaps we worry about the lesson we are to teach
or about what people will think of our new hairstyle, worry about the kids
sitting still in the pew, or worry about whether the guests we invited
over for lunch will stay the whole afternoon so we won't be able to take
a nap.
If on weekdays you seldom
have any "down" time because of your hectic schedule, if you rush from
one activity to another without taking time to enjoy them, then it is doubly
important to stop your busyness on the Sabbath.
The root of the word Sabbath
means "to stop, rest, cease." The rest refers to God's acts of creation.
After bringing the world into being, God stopped, not from tiredness, but
because He had finished His work, the reasoning behind the command to observe
the Sabbath. God intended us to "finish" our work in six days so we too
could celebrate with Him on the Sabbath.
But for most of us our work
never gets "finished." So when the sun sets in the west on Friday evening,
God gave us permission just to drop it, walk away from it, forget it, and
take a vacation from it for 24 hours. You may not think you have the time.
But the busier you get, the more important the Sabbath becomes. After a
day of rest from your regular routine, you'll feel refreshed and ready
to return to your job with renewed interest and energy, and will be able
to work smarter, instead of longer.
Ceasing work on the seventh
day isn't an arbitrary command. God sanctified (set apart) that day for
the good of humanity. He had you in mind when He ceased His work and declared
the seventh day of each week a holiday in His honor.
| What busy things are you doing on the
Sabbath that are robbing you of experiencing a Sabbath day blessing? What
are you going to do differently next Sabbath? |
|