Yesterday, I had a lazy day.
My first real lazy day in a long time.
And it felt good.
It felt very, very good.
Admittedly, in the morning it was kind of forced on me due to me not feeling very well, but it was still very good.
Essentially, I spent the majority of my day lying on the sofa wrapped in my bedding and watching through Once Upon a Time with my sister. And not feeling guilty about it because I've only got 2 exams (one subject) left to go, and half a week to study for it.
In the evening, after dinner, I headed to church with the sister, where "just one hour" turned into three and a half hours of board games, laughter, chatting and cleaning with some friends.
Yesterday was, not just lazy, but relaxing.
And it has been obvious to all today, that I am much more relaxed than I have been. So many people have commented that I'm walking taller and look like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
I feel so much readier to face my day than I have been for a while. I wasn't intending to get up until 8, but at 7:24 I was up and ready to go.
Oh, the difference that taking a day off can make!
And this has been something that keeps coming up. This concept of "taking a break".
It's so easy not to do that. So easy to keep on going. Because, you know what? It's never finished.
The To-do list never gets shorter. Ever.
The world never slows down.
If anything, it just speeds up.
And up. And up.
And, I think I've spoken about this before, but it was pointed out to me, and I have since pointed it out to others.
So often we think that taking a break is selfish.
That just stopping and saying "no" to others is self-serving and unloving.
But... God commands us to take a rest.
I'll repeat that: God commands us to take a rest.
It isn't a mild suggestion. It isn't a "well... if you really must... but it would be so much better if you could..."
It is a command.
The Sabbath day... so many times He orders us to keep it Holy. It can even be found on the 10 Commandments.
Go, take a look. It's right there. Exodus chapter 20. Verse number 8. The fourth command: "remember the Sabbath day by keeping it Holy."
Now, I want to make myself very clear, I am by no means advocating doing no work at all. The Bible makes it so clear that laziness leads, quite rightfully, to ruin. It is dishonouring to God and foolish way to live.
But keeping the Sabbath honours God. Not just by the fact that you are taking a break, but by the work ethic and routine it helps us establish and maintain.
Look at Exodus 20: 9 - 10.
"Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God."
Six days of work, than a day of rest so that you can be ready and able to do the next six days.
Is taking a rest selfish? No!
In fact, I would say that not taking the rest is selfish.
Seriously. What motivates someone to keep going?
A guilty conscience. We keep working because we don't like that sense of guilt, that feeling of "but it's going to keep piling up on me, I'm just going to have more to do later if I stop now." You get the picture?
We aren't really motivated by a desire to serve and love. We are motivated by the thought that it will be worse if we don't. Well, at least, that's the case for me.
So we push ourselves until the bags under ours eyes reach the floor, our bodies give way, and our emotions fly out all over the place, and start to maim and hurt other people.
Real loving thing, huh?
But resting... well, I've found it is not only easier, but also much more natural for me to reach out to others and see how they are doing. I can spend longer hours caring for the needs of other. But only after I've rested.
And do you know how important this Sabbath is to the Lord?
Important enough that the commands He gives Israel regarding farming and the care of the land also followed this pattern. For 6 years they were to grow crops and work the land. On the seventh year, they were to eat stored grain and leave the land alone. The land was to have a Sabbath every seventh year. And this was important enough that God punished them for not doing it by exiling them. It wasn't the only sin they were being punished for, but in Isaiah, it is mentioned multiple times, and He mentions it in the second half of Leviticus 26.
Important enough that the commands He gave Israel regarding the treatment of slaves a servants also followed this pattern. For 6 years a bondservant (slave) served their master, and on the seventh year they were freed, unless they chose to stay.
Yep. It's important.
But do you know what else the Exodus passage tells us about the Sabbath?
Well, it gives us an example, a model to follow, if you will. Which is this: "For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (v 11)
Did you get that?
God doesn't just command a day of rest. He took one Himself. He built this pattern around what He Himself did.
I think that's a pretty good reason to be able to take a rest.
But, more than that, there's an even greater reason why we should do this.
All of God's Laws were laid down in order to set Israel apart. To bring God honour. To show the world that Israel served a Holy God.
Well, we still serve that same Holy God.
Shouldn't we be setting ourselves apart by following, to the best of our abilities, that pattern? That pattern of six days work and one day rest a week.
By being purposeful about taking time out to rest, to worship.
If you think about it, people in this world either over-rest and under-work, or they under-rest and over-work.
Be different. Make sure you get enough rest to do enough work to the best of your ability to the Glory of God.
Not so that you can do better, but so that God can do better through you.
Not so that you can be seen as great, but so that God can be seen as what He is: HOLY.
So, my thanksgiving point: I am grateful for rest, I am grateful that my God cares about my rest. And I am grateful for the day of rest I got yesterday.
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