One person judges one day to be more important than another day. Someone else judges every day to be the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.
Romans 14:5
To Rest and to Obey
You’ve felt it. The battle to reclaim territory in your schedule: the crushing grip of obligation; the ruthless elongation of the task list. Modern life, with all its timesaving conveniences, exacts a paradoxical demand to fill every second of our days with stuff. Like the famous Jesse Ventura line, many of us feel we “ain’t got time to bleed.” These don’t sound like the lifestyles of the rested and reliant.
Yet our God calls us to take one day in seven to rest and focus on Him. In a world where the still, small voice of God is lost in an ocean of cacophony, can you really afford not to obey?
Trusting The Father
As today’s verse suggests, your Sabbath day may fall on Saturday, Sunday, or Tuesday. Whatever you call the day is less important than the trustful obedience at the heart of Sabbath. Sabbath, you see, is not an arbitrary command nor is it a thoughtful, but optional, gift. Instead, the weekly practice of Sabbath demonstrates both confidence in and dependence on the Almighty.
By taking a day to stop our frenetic activity and focus on God, we demonstrate our willingness to listen. We not only say we believe He can do all things, we live as though we believe it. In our rest, we are trusting in our God to do in six days what our efforts fall short of accomplishing in seven.
Everlasting Life in The Endlessness
I wonder: if we began to take Sabbath seriously, what would the impact be on that endless to-do list? Perhaps if we began to live out the faith we claim to hold, trusting in God enough to obey by resting in His omnipotence, we would get to see His power at work even in our busy little lives. Perhaps we would even find an end to the endless drain. This, to me, sounds like the lifestyle of the rested and reliant.
So what do you say? Will you join me?
Now What?
Consider what it means to truly rest and rely on God. In what areas of your life should you relinquish control in order to make room for rest? Ask Him for the faith to trust in His might.
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