Moses told the Israelites that the Lord had said:Before the Ten Commandments, there was no day of rest.
The Sabbath belongs to me. Now I command you and your descendants to always obey the laws of the Sabbath. By doing this, you will know that I have chosen you as my own. Exodus 31:12-13
"No ancient society before the Jews had a day of rest." As one who observes the Shabbat, I can attest to its life-changing effects. Those who live without such septimanal punctuation are emptier and less resourceful." - Thomas Cahill, The Gifts of the Jews.If you read between the lines you will see something else in the day of rest. The centrality of human freedom exists there. For those who work seven days a week, even if they are paid millions, are slaves.
My first encounter with such a strong belief came with the Olympic runner, Eric Liddell, who refused to run a medal race because it was held on Sunday.
A day of rest enables us to be better equipped to handle difficult and intrusive events in our lives.I'm not arguing the accuracy of the adjective; I am, though, contesting the way in which it is used to flatter and express sympathy. "The poor pastor," we say. "So devoted to his flock; the work is endless and he sacrifices himself so unstintingly." But the word busy is the symptom not of commitment but of betrayal. It is not devotion but defection. The adjective busy set as a modifier to pastor should sound to our ears like adulterous to characterize a wife, or embezzling to describe a banker. It is an outrageous scandal, a blasphemous affront. Hilary of Tours diagnosed pastoral busyness as "irreligiosa solicitudo pro Deo," a blasphemous anxiety to do God's work for him. - Eugene Peterson, The Unbusy Pastor
The metaphors Jesus used for the life of ministry are frequently images of the single, the small, and the quiet, which have effects far in excess of their appearance: salt, leaven, seed. Our culture publicizes the opposite emphasis: the big, the multitudinous, the noisy. It is, then, a strategic necessity that pastors deliberately ally themselves with the quiet, poised harpooners, and not leap, frenzied, to the oars. There is far more need that we develop the skills of the harpooner than the muscles of the oarsman. It is far more biblical to learn quietness and attentiveness before God than to be overtaken by what John Oman named the twin perils of ministry, flurry and worry. For flurry dissipates energy, and worry constipates it. - Eugene Peterson, The Unbusy PastorJohn Ortberg asked Dallas Willard, what he needed to do to be spiritually healthy. Willard said, “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life, for hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our world today.” (Find the story here.)
Taking a day of rest is not a suggestion but a command to cease our work.
The harder we work, the less loved we feel.
We also do not listen well or respond to needs that are being expressed to us.
Taking a day of rest is not the cure for our anxieties and discontents, but it is a tangible, weekly reminder that God is God and we are not.
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