“And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” Genesis 2:3
School children love snow days. Moms and Dads love vacation days. Everybody loves holidays. Celebrating the occasion aside, just doing something different than what is required all the other days makes a day off a treat. In proclaiming the seventh day for rest, God set the example of giving us a day off. He even modeled this for us by resting from all the work He had done on the other six days.
I don’t think God was tired, but rather He wanted to enjoy the blessing of a job well done – not unlike the feeling of satisfaction we get from sipping sweet tea and looking at a freshly mowed lawn or a newly-mopped floor. Ahhh….satisfaction!
A day off is a gift. A blessing. A delight to be enjoyed, not a drudgery to be endured. And yet, when we hear Sabbath, our minds quickly jump to words like legalism, law, or bondage. Perhaps we should consider that real bondage is trying to continuously maintain the stressful, hectic pace of every day being the same – is Sunday the day that you and I try to play catch up on everything we just didn’t get to the rest of the week?
God, as the Creator of our bodies, knows what we need. Just as we refer to the owner’s manual to determine how many quarts of oil our engine needs to run effectively, we need to use God as the authority for what our bodies need. He is our manufacturer. A day off will help the other six unfold both more productively and more joyfully.
What holds us back from accepting His gift? Are we so arrogant or prideful to think that we are too important, too busy, or just have it too much together that we don’t need to or don’t have time to take the day off?
How can you and I be intentional about making this Sunday a real day of rest, a holy day, a day of blessing? For many believers, Sunday is the MOST hectic day of the week and certainly not the day of rest God intended. Join me in making some plans. Let’s intentionally make Saturday count and take Sunday off. How can we make Sunday different? Go for a bike ride, play games with the family, read a book, go for a walk – whatever rest looks like for you. Let’s make it holy – set apart – different from the other days and, most of all, honoring to God.
Let’s plan to open our gift of a day off!
