Day of Rest, Often the Busiest

Today, we are so busy. At least we claim to be.

I have seen middle school students go to school, practice one sport for the school for a couple of hours, then change into a different sport’s uniform and head to another practice for another couple of hours, and then rush home to get the hours of homework done, go to bed and do it all over again. Is that worth anything?

Regardless of family size, jobs, or any other responsibilities, we all have 168 hours in a week and 24 hours in a day. We all have the same time.

How come the most productive and effective people in the world get so much done and we, the common folk, “never have enough”? Not even to take a break.

We claim we cannot do this or we cannot do that. We don’t have time for family dinners. We don’t have time to play with our kids. We don’t have time to clean out the garage.

We don’t have time to pray. We don’t have time to read the Word. We don’t have time to go to church. We don’t have time for God.

Recently, I was in my satellite office, you know, the one with the golden arches, and I overheard a conversation a man was having on the phone. He was talking to a potential employer for his teenage son. Whatever the details of their conversation, one piece stood out.

The man said that he and his family do not work on Sundays. He repeated it.

Clearly, the employer was discussing availability and requirements, but the man remained adamant about not working on Sundays. He then said, “We do not work on Sundays not even if you paid him $1 million.”

Many of us, myself included, would probably work on Sundays for $1 million. In fact, I already do (not for $1 million, mind you). Many of you do too.

We could get into a massive discussion and debate about Sunday versus Saturday versus any other day, but the bottom line is we need a day of rest to collect ourselves from all the work we have done for the previous six days.

The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 2 verses 1 through 3, “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating he had done.”

This idea is repeated over and over again throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus, Himself, speaks to the Sabbath, not as a legalistic ritual but as a freeing, liberating necessity.

All of us spend time working and creating. Few us of spend time resting and recuperating from that work.

God commands us, maybe better said, He encourages us to rest. He says it’s okay.

This week, why not take a little breather and commune with God.

Anyway, I was just thinking…