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WEEKLY HABIT 4

SABBATH

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The Habit at a Glance:

The weekly practice of sabbath teaches us that God sustains the world and that we don’t. To make a countercultural embrace of our limitations, we stop our usual work for one day of rest. Sabbath is a gospel practice because it reminds us that the world doesn’t hang on what we can accomplish, but rather on what God has accomplished for us.

OUR SOULS NEED MORE THAN DOING NOTHING; THEY NEED TO DO RESTFUL  THINGS. IN THIS SENSE, REAL REST TAKES REAL WORK.

An Excerpt From The Common Rule: 

There is more going on than just our body’s need for rest. Our

souls need rest too. But the rest that our souls need is not simply a nap. It’s the rest that comes with realizing we don’t have anything to prove anymore. We don’t have to prove we’re important.

 

This is why we live in a culture that can’t accept sabbath; we do not believe that work is from God and for our neighbor. Instead we believe that work is from us and for us. It’s something we pursue to become who we want to become. Our careers define us. This is the American dream. We can work our way to significance. This is what we’re doing when we prove our busyness to ourselves and each other; we’re trying to show that we matter, that the world wants us, that the world depends on us.

 

But the gospel wants to put that to rest. We don’t have to work like that because Jesus has done that work for us. And he has finished it.

The book of Hebrews tells us that God has entered into his eternal rest, which is another way of saying that God has entered his full sabbath, because his work is done. This is because God has not only finished the work of creation, now in Jesus he has finished the work of redemption too.

Reading and Resources:

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