God tells us to rest, in fact, He commands it. In Exodus 20:8-11 God spoke through Moses. God then spoke through Moses a second time in Deuteronomy 5:12-15 saying:
Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work--you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident foreigner in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
The Jews were strictly commanded to stop work on the Sabbath. This was not meant to be a burden. It was a blessing! It was a reminder that they were no longer slaves.
Now, I have never been physically enslaved, but have been enslaved none-the-less. Work commands my attention five to six days a week. After work my attention is commanded by a countless number of other things.
Maybe yours is work and maybe it is not. The way TV grabs our attention, and keeps it, the way sport can take over any spare time we might have had, the pressure on us to take on more responsibilities in the community--isn't this a form of slavery? Jesus said, "I have come so that you may have life...and have it more abundantly." He calls us to freedom, and says, "If the Son sets you free, then you are truly free!"
In this command, God may seem to restrict us. He forbids us from working non-stop. He commands us to take a day of rest, each week. But this is not meant to oppress us: rather, He is giving us a precious gift: the gift of time. Time with Him.
Have you ever noticed that, when you are busy, in the corporate world, five days a week--non-stop, by the week is over you are exhausted. What if you worked seven days a week, every week? You would be totally ineffective. Any employer knows this; so does God.
If we walk non-stop through out the week with out resting in Him we will become worn out and ineffective. If we continue to do this we often find ourselves in a rut that is hard to get out of. I know I often do, and have found myself there recently. By the time I get there I have some major damage to lay before my Lord's feet.
Paul tells us in Romans 14: "One person considers one day more sacred than another; another person considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." And in Colossians 2:16 and 17, he teaches us not to be legalistic about Sabbaths: " Therefore let no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. "
The reality is Christ.
The true meaning of the Sabbath is found in Him, and the meaning is this: through Jesus Christ, we are set free from having to obey the laws of God and other people as slaves. We are still called to obey God's law, but we don't have to perform. We don't have to achieve certain levels before he will accept us, because we are now children, not slaves.
Christ calls us to enter a Sabbath-relationship with God.
A relationship of rest. A relationship, in which, he assures us that it is not our work that defines who we are, just as our failures do not mean we are worthless. He commands us to clear a space in our lives, a space free of work.
Paul tells us in Romans 14: "One person considers one day more sacred than another; another person considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." And in Colossians 2:16 and 17, he teaches us not to be legalistic about Sabbaths: " Therefore let no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. "
The reality is Christ.
The true meaning of the Sabbath is found in Him, and the meaning is this: through Jesus Christ, we are set free from having to obey the laws of God and other people as slaves. We are still called to obey God's law, but we don't have to perform. We don't have to achieve certain levels before he will accept us, because we are now children, not slaves.
Christ calls us to enter a Sabbath-relationship with God.
A relationship of rest. A relationship, in which, he assures us that it is not our work that defines who we are, just as our failures do not mean we are worthless. He commands us to clear a space in our lives, a space free of work.
