Finding Rest Part II

Rest is a Gift

 

Sabbath—a time set aside for rest, typically one day per week.

In the Old Testament, God commanded His people to observe a Sabbath, one day a week when they would rest. In the New Testament, Jesus makes it clear that God intended the Sabbath more as a gift than as a law. It’s important to God that we rest.

Busyness often makes us feel like we’re accomplishing something important, but that feeling can be counterfeit. We often use activity to numb ourselves of our need for intimacy with God, the Giver of every good and perfect gift. We must be intentional to establish healthy boundaries around the different parts of our lives—work, family, rest, etc.—so that no one category becomes an idol in our lives.

Reflect: Do you have a specific time set aside each week when you don’t work? If not, what would it look like to begin to create a space like that in your life?

*Leviticus 23:3

“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live.

*Mark 2:27

Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.

*James 1:17

Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.

*Ephesians 2:8-9

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.