What do you think of when you hear the word Sabbath?
Words that probably come to mind are rest, reading the Bible, and praying. These are all correct answers and precisely what pieces of Sabbath are, but what if Sabbath is also a mindset?
In other words, what if Sabbath is intentionally thinking and planning that time of rest, but also carrying that mentality with you throughout the week or month?
Sabbath is about rest and restoration, but most importantly refocus. Sabbath resting itself and making time for it is important, but the often most effective way to fully rest and remain focused is to carry that with you.
Why does each and every person need peace, rest, and time to refocus anyway?
God calls us to rest and refocus our lives on Him. As people in Christ, we have overall peace and comfort in the Lord. We can still feel overwhelmed and need that reset.
It is easy to get caught up in everyday life and slowly drift away from Him. Often it is easy to drift so slowly away, you may not even notice. That is the most important time to practice Sabbath and refocusing your life to go in the direction you want, and need it to go in. If you don’t notice what direction you are going in, you can find yourself somewhere you never wanted to be.
If you don’t notice what direction you are going in, you can find yourself somewhere you never wanted to be.
“For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of Sabbath rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death.”
Exodus 31:15
Now, being put to death seems a little extreme to me, but not practicing Sabbath can lead to a mental or physical burnout or “death”. It only takes a small amount of time staying in that burnout to affect the rest of your life. It creates a snowball effect, easy to get trapped in and hard to stop or break away from, especially on your own.
The practicing of connecting with God and listening for guidance on what is to come, can help prevent that snowball rolling down the hill. You can’t stop it completely, but you can definitely slow it down.
Sabbath needs a lot more than maybe often realized. It requires making space in the busy schedule of everyday life. Sabbath takes effort. It takes dedication, but the most difficult, it takes energy. It takes energy to rest.
Sabbath takes effort. It takes dedication, but the most difficult, it takes energy. It takes energy to rest.
Often because it takes energy to rest completely, we find ourselves resting kind of halfway in a sense. Simply because to rest fully, we must have that energy and drive before we even rest.
How do we get that energy to rest?
We are told in these principles of Sabbath, not to work so intensely and straining to earn our Sabbath, but that we already deserve that rest and healing. We should reflect instead of looking forward seeing what we must achieve and working so hard to earn that rest. If we have already earned that restoration, we should look back at what we have accomplished. Using that rest and encouragement we deserve can keep us going throughout our future achievements.
Now Sabbath in the Bible Times is going to look different than it does now. We probably don’t sacrifice our prized lambs. However, the main principles of Sabbath can be applied today.
Rest, refocus, and create boundaries.
Deuteronomy 5:14 says, “But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.”
Sabbath looks different for everyone, what may be chaos for one person may mean rest for another. With this we are not told exactly how to step by step practice Sabbath, only told to rest and focus on God however that may look for you.
Exodus 31:13 says, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.”
Sabbath and worship are vital pieces of maintaining focus and energy, it is important to find that space or gap to fit that in.
I encourage you to take the time and energy to really practice a Sabbath mindset, to reflect, rest, and reset your focus on God.
Happy Sabbathing! – Mary
Mary Edwards
Mary is my oldest kid and a junior in high school. She enjoys dance, photography, graphic design, hanging out with friends, and shopping. Her unique way to capture and create beauty constantly amazes me. I love seeing her creative expression! I could not do this blog without her contribution and willingness to learn new things.
Photo by Rachel Strong, Liz Vo, Jessica Delp, Andrew Ebrahim, and others on Unsplash
