When Do You Rest?

Welcome back, everyone, for a brand-new message. Let’s dive into our focus verse today! Today’s verse is Mark 2:27, and it says this: “The Sabbath was created for humans; humans weren’t created for the Sabbath.” 

How many of you have heard of this term before? It’s what I consider a church vocabulary word. Sabbath is a weekly day of rest or worship given in the Bible as the seventh day. This definition came from Genesis 1 and 2 when God rested on the seventh day after spending the previous six days creating the world. It comes from the Hebrew word “Shabbat: which means “to cease” or “stop.” In the book of Exodus, the Israelites were given by God the command to remember the Sabbath. God wanted them to not work on the seventh day and take that day and spend time with God, either by attending worship, reading their Bible, praying, or other sacraments of worship.

Now, what Jesus is telling here in this story is that this Sabbath rest is not something we created, meaning that humans didn’t create this concept. God created it, again, as a way to create this intentional time to spend with God. When I thought about this day of rest, it made me think of sleeping. Sleeping is one of my favorite and most challenging things to do. I’m getting ready to take my mid-morning nap, as you can tell here. Rest is a way of letting our bodies relax. It’s a time when we’re not doing anything but that activity, which is sleeping. Sleep has many benefits: it keeps you healthy, reduces stress, makes you more alert, helps your memory, makes you smarter, helps the body repair itself, among other benefits. So, now that we’ve talked about rest and what it means for us. I want to talk about what it means to “remember the Sabbath,” as it states in the Ten Commandments. 

Sabbath time doesn’t have to be every 7th day, nor does it have to be observed at a specific time. The basis of Sabbath time is to take intentional time to spend with God. Here are some activities that you and your family can do at home. 

• Put a puzzle together while listening to some Bible stories.
• Cook a meal together and listen to worship music, or cook a meal for someone that needs it.
• Paint rocks together with some of your favorite scriptures on them.
• Take a hike and observe the beauty of God’s creation.
• Build an indoor blanket fort and create your own Bible Study.
• Or take a nap and rest.

Let me know what your favorite Sabbath activity is. I’m going to take my nap after our worship service! We’ll see you next week. Enjoy the rest of the service