Where sabbaths are neglected all religion sensibly goes to decay.

Matthew Henry

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 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.  And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. – Genesis 2:1-3, NKJV

The word Sabbath simply means “Stop.” Dr. Matthew Sleeth in his book “24/6″ writes:

The word Sabbath means “cease from working.” The concept is holy. The ancient Hebrews did not have names for the days of the week; They had numbers one day, two day, three day, four day, five day, six day, and stop day. But the name is not important; It’s what happens that day that matters. Resting one day a week by any name is holy- the point is to stop on that day and look for God” (Sleeth, 24).

Rest is to remember and make the day holy. If we rest for rest sake we will miss the point! We do not rest for recreation. We do not rest for relaxation even. We rest in reverence. 

This rest is for everyone, even the animals (See Exodus 20)! The idea is that you rest, but that you also allow others to rest. This was a great equalizer in Israelite society. The wealthy were to take this day or rest as well as those who were poor. The Ox didn’t pull the cart, the mule wasn’t hooked up to a plow. 

Resting on the Lord’s Day is a big deal. It is an exercise in our trust in the Lord. If I rest and cease work, I am trusting God to provide and meet my needs. This may not seem like a big deal when lots of folks get weekends off from work nowadays, but many received this and they didn’t live paycheck to paycheck, they lived day to day, meal to meal. It was a big thing to trust God that they would be able to take a day off. 

We see companies such as Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A taking a stand to offer this day to all of their employees by being closed on Sundays. It’s a big risk to let your competition have a full 52 extra days a year to compete with you and steal their section of the market share. But it seems like they are doing ok.

If you spend the Lord’s day chasing after something other than the Lord you are missing the point. Why would you take the one day each week that God has said in effect, “Use this to draw closer to me” and use it to push yourself further from God? Fathers, this day is important! The direction you would lead your family begins with how you would spend this day each week. 

 

Father, Your word is true and good. Thank you for the blessing of a “stop” day that helps us to pause and see you at work in our lives. This day of rest causes us to reflect on our need for you and your grace. It blesses us by bringing purpose and meaning to our work on the other six days of the week. Help us to honor you in our going and in our stopping.  In Jesus Name, Amen.