Walk With Me

Happy Wednesday, we have made it halfway through the week! Today I want to dive into the importance of rest and honoring the Sabbath.

“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. 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 2:1-3

This passage comes in the first book of the Bible after God had created the heavens and the earth. To translate it to our world today, God put in 100% of His effort for six days and then rested on the seventh day. That’s how I picture it and how I’m approaching this topic.

In today’s world we can get so caught up in planning and working trying to obtain the American dream that we forget that even God rested. God bless the businesses that are closed on Sundays, so their team has a day off to rest. Our souls and our bodies need it and that’s why we have Sundays which is supposed to be the day we go to church and worship together. “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.” God gave us the seventh day so we could have rest.

When you think about it, days did not exist before God created the heavens and the earth. He could’ve just stopped at day six and started over and worked but instead He made a seventh day. This seventh day was added into our week to rest, reset, and get ready for the next week so we could bring 100% again. God created the seventh day with us in mind.

“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

The Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments and is, in my opinion, the easiest one to uphold. It is literally instructing us to not work but rest which we should be all for, amen? So why is it so hard to stop ourselves for just one day of the week? Speaking from personal experience, I just came out of a very time consuming and demanding job which required me to work on Sundays. I fell victim to viewing work as an idol and prioritizing it over my own health and, more importantly, the Lord. Why was I not honoring the extra time given to me by the Creator of time? There might as well only be six days in the week if we are not stopping and resting in between.

Now, honoring the Sabbath can look a little different for everyone. Even though it is typically Sundays, it doesn’t have to be. Maybe you work in a church, so you of course have to work on Sundays. It can be another day of the week. Some people honor the Sabbath by turning off their phones and unplugging from social media in addition to not working. Am i saying you have to do all that? No, but I am encouraging you to take advantage of the seventh day given to us. It is a gift. Honor it, cherish it, treasure it. Spend time with your family undistracted from everything else. You have six perfectly good days to think about work, let it go on the seventh, and then give your 100% again on day one.

One more thing I want to leave you with is something I actually heard Charlie Kirk say in an interview about the Sabbath. He said, “it doesn’t matter what day of the week your family chooses to honor the Sabbath, but someone else should be able to see into your house and know what day you do. “In other words, your Sabbath day should look different from the other six days.

This doesn’t mean you can’t work hard, but it does mean we need to be intentional about participating in a day of rest. Take care of yourselves, remember why we have a seventh day, and honor the Lord.

I love you guys and am praying God shows you something this week,

Courtney McKean