And He said to them, ”Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”
Mark 6:31
In the church I grew up in you did, bought, and unless your work was absolutely essential, you didn’t work on Sunday. Sunday was a day of rest. You didn’t go out to eat after church, because that causes other people to have to work. You didn’t go shopping because there’s 6 other days in the week to shop. Also underlying all this was also the thought- can we not just take one day off and dedicate it to the Lord?
Some, like the church I grew up in, say we should do nothing besides the absolute essentials. Some like my family say we should make an effort to do less. Some say if you work with your hands, Sabbath with your hands, and if you work with your mind, sabbath with your mind. (I heard this first from Annie F Downs, but I think she heard it first from a guest she interviewed on her podcast, That Sounds Fun). Some say go to church and then proceed as normal. And others say, well if I have to skip because of my children’s activities then we will try to make it up some other time- but what kind of example are we setting?
I am not here to say how much of a sabbath it is biblical to take each week; far more scholarly and biblically educated minds than mine have been debating this for a while, but this much I do know: we are still commanded to rest. We are still commanded to gather together with other believers on a regular basis. We are still commanded to set time aside to spend some quiet time with God.
During His time here on earth, Jesus spent many times going away and getting quiet. In Mark 6:31, we see Jesus urging the disciples to take time out to refresh themselves after they had been out ministering and preaching to people. The mount of transfiguration was when Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him up a Mountain where they could be alone. Jesus spent 40 days fasting and praying in the desert. Jesus took time out to pray and spend time alone with His Father. Even Jesus needed dedicated time to spend alone with His heavenly father; so why would we think we need any less?
We spend so much of our time on the go, rushing from activity to activity, and many of these activities are God honoring- but even God honoring activities can be a misuse of time if we are doing them at the expense of furthering our actual relationship with God.
Some activities are life-giving, others are draining, and other activities that were once life-giving turn into a drain on our lives because our lives are too full of “all the things”. How are you spending your time? Are you spending even just a few minutes alone with your Savoir?
I have talked at length about creating a home that feels cozy for fall- no matter your budget. This autumn I invite you to set time aside to use that cozy space, and spend time in the Word, and honoring God with your time. I think you may just be amazed at how, when you honor Him first with your time, everything else will start to fall into place. Activities that had lost their joy will start to be fun again, and you will start to find yourself refreshed.
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