Okay, let’s be real. Life is incredibly busy. If you’re a heavy-duty planner like me who thrives on productivity, then you may be very well acquainted with my best friend, Google Calendar. Nothing excites me - or stresses me out - more than a full week packed with those colored boxes. I mean, if everything is planned out, then everything gets done, and there are no surprises for the week. Right?

Wrong. Completely wrong. 

Because the problem with busyness is that it adds up over time. And then, the worst surprise of all time shows up to ruin everything. 

What is that surprise, you may ask? It’s called burnout. And it is a beast. 

You see, I’ve had a lot of experience with burnout. I know that it kills motivation. It kills productivity. And probably worst of all, it kills living in the present, because it turns you into a robot that’s just holding out for when you can take your next break, whether that be after this next exam, the weekend, a vacation, the end of the semester, the end of the year…you get the idea. You begin counting down the days until you can relax, and every day begins to feel like a race to your next rest. 

What if I told you that this is not how our lives should be spent? In fact, what if I said that there is a different way of living? A solution that was designed for us by our Heavenly Father, who knows exactly what we need. 

This solution is called the Sabbath, and I believe that, for a lot of us, it could mean the difference between striving for productivity and living in joy and freedom. 

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An Example in Creation

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To fully understand, let’s go back to the very beginning. In Genesis 2:2-3, the Bible says, 

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“And on the seventh day God finished His work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.” 
Genesis 2:2-3

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Now, if you’re thinking it’s crazy that the Creator of the universe needed to take a break, you would be correct, and this is because He didn’t need that seventh day of rest. The point here is to give us an example of how we are supposed to be living our lives! God knew that we, as humans, are limited by time and by simply how much effort we are able to give, and in fact designed us to have limits, so that we can indulge and fully appreciate his gift of rest (both here on earth and eternally).

Not only was this showcased for us in the laws in the Old Testament (observing the Sabbath is actually a commandment written in Exodus 20!), but Jesus painted an amazing picture for us of what this looks like. Many times in the record of His life, we see him retreating by Himself to spend time with God and rest from His teachings (Mark 6:31, Luke 5:16, John 4:6, etc.). In doing so, he was once again giving us an example of what true biblical rest looks like. 

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The Reality of Rest

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Now, I feel like I have an idea of what you may be thinking right now, because I’ve been there too. Honestly, you’re probably running through why you can’t take a whole day off every week, whether that be because you have so much homework, too many hours at work, sports, whatever. The brutal answer here is that, truly, a Sabbath is going to take some sacrifice. The Sabbath is not a call to laziness or foregoing the work that you have to get done. It shows us that for six days out of the week, we should be working hard and giving our all to where God has placed us. However, we cannot be filled up to our fullest potential without taking the rest that we are designed to need on that seventh day. 

So, I challenge you to see what it would look like, realistically, to put aside time every week for true rest in the Lord. Honestly, start small with a few hours per week! Put away your phone  (that’s right, I said it!), don’t even look at your calendar, and do things that will fill you up! The Sabbath is not meant to be a burden, but rather a glorious gift from our Heavenly Father.

Just take it from Jesus’s words: 

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“Then Jesus said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath” 
Matthew 2:27

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Indulge in the gift that God designed for you! 

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