Sabbath is a gift, a practice, and a commandment.
It has been present in God’s heart for humanity since the very beginning. Human beings’ first day in the Genesis creation narrative is a day of rest. We are designed to work from rest. Sabbath stands as a reminder to us that no matter what our inner turmoil, anxiety, or culture says, our value is not primarily found in what we do and achieve, but in that we have been made in the image of God. You are loved before you do anything.
Practicing Sabbath means setting aside one day a week to rest, to cease from your work, and simply enjoy God, our relationships, and creation. In this challenging time of quarantine with many of our normal work/life boundaries getting blurred, it is as important as ever to revisit the practice of Sabbath.
Choose a day, make a plan, don’t work. Set aside time to worship, to connect with others, and to enjoy your life as a gift. The Sabbath keeps us as much as we keep the Sabbath.
We can also learn to build Sabbath moments into each day. Practice making space to breath and rest each day in God’s presence.
“The power of work to control human life is forever relativized in the Sabbath…it helps to guard against one of the primary idolatries to which we are prone: idolizing our work by making it the center of value and meaning for our lives. The Sabbath relativizes human work and makes it possible regularly to set aside our goals and plans, our ambitions and accomplishments, to think and care about the God who created us and God’s work, about God’s plan and our place in it. It is a constant reminder of the goal of human existence: to glorify God and enjoy God forever.” —Patrick Watson
Additional Reading
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
Quiet by AJ Sherrill
The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel
