It’s Saturday morning, the end of a busy week, but my mind keeps playing the reel of everything that took place. Worse yet, my mind is already writing next week’s list including the items I didn’t get done. Let alone, thinking, “what can I get done today.” Today being Saturday. Anyone else feel this way when they wake up on a Saturday? Wake up on the “weekend”? Do we really ever get a weekend anymore?
The weekend has become 2 more work days for many of us. Two days we can use to finish what we didn’t get done, or get a jump start on the week ahead. Two additional days of running and gunning and striving to “get’r done.”
I want to spend some time today looking at how the weekend has evolved into just another day of work and accomplishments, and remind us all the true intention of the weekend. Rest. Which is rarely every observed anymore.
I grew up in the 80’s. To some that might sound old, but if you think in decades, that was only 4 decades ago. In the grand scheme of things, not that long ago! In just the 80’s most places besides church were closed on Sunday. This included shopping centers and stores, car dealerships, grocery stores, banks. There were limitations on what you could buy at the grocery store on the weekends even.
Fast forward just 2 decades from the 80’s and these places were open. They initially began to open with limited hours on Sundays. And today, most everything is open and available for our consumption and use every day of the week. This is two fold in my opinion. Our society has begun to celebrate the idea that happiness is born out of busy-ness and buying, and accomplishing as much as humanly possible. Secondly, economics has created this appeal by opening stores for business and driving their bottom line by fitting in more sales over the weekend.
I’d like to propose that succumbing to those commercialism ideations is robbing us of our joy and peace.
In Genesis chapter one the truth of creation is outlined for us. We are likely familiar with the Bible’s truth of creation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1. But let’s move to chapter two. What happens after God creates the heavens and the earth, the moon and stars, the vegetation and plants, the waters and the expanse, the living creatures, and man and woman? Sounds like a pretty busy and accomplished week to me. Can you image the stress we, as humans, would be dealing with? Can you imagine the never ending to-do list we would create for ourselves?
What did God do next? Genesis chapter two tells us. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. Genesis 2:1-2. HE RESTED. He didn’t do a thing. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. Genesis 2:3. The creator of all the universe RESTED. The One with all the power, knowledge, and creativity to do anything and everything he would ever want to do, HE RESTED.
And! He made the seventh day holy. Catch that in chapter 2 verse 3? He made that day holy. This seventh day, the day of rest became the Old Testament Sabbath. God went so far as to include this day in the 10 commandments. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:8-11. God, the all knowing, knew that a day of rest was crucial for the health of the human being He created. It was necessary to God himself! So He commanded us to keep it holy.
Now, much discussion can be given to which day is the true Sabbath, Saturday or Sunday. Since I am not a theologian or biblical scholar, I will not delve into that. However, there are many many YouTube videos on it and I encourage you to take a look on your next day of rest. Have a Bible ready so you can decide for yourself. Everything you learn and believe needs to be put to the test of the Bible. That being said, the Christian Sabbath is Sunday. Therefore, to this day in the 21st century, there are a handful stores which are not open for business on Sundays. Take Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby for example. In these most recent days, there are even more stores returning to these christian roots and closing their doors on Sundays. Why you ask? Because all the hustle and bustle and going and doing is leading us into emotional and physical destruction. On a personal level, and on a national level. We are loosing sight of where our peace comes from. The Lord gives strength to his people, and the Lord blesses his people with peace. Psalm 29:11. My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:2.
I chose Self Discipline as the step in this journey to write about rest because it is going to take self discipline to reinstate this practice into our lives. We have seen how the blessing of rest has been written into the fabric of time by our heavenly creator. It is a blessing to know that we have the God given right and commandment to rest one day of the week. He knew how crucial rest would become to our sanity and he created an entire day dedicated to it. It is going to require a change in behavior to begin taking advantage of this gift. And we know that a change in behavior is not easy. A change in behavior takes self discipline. It’s going to take an awareness of the lies of our past actions, and a commitment to change in order to bring about the truth of peace.
Pick one day of the week, every week, to seal off as your day of rest. Don’t let anyone steal that blessing from you on that particular day. Not even yourself. It is your gift from God.