Principle 3: The Sabbath is a day of building closer relationships with our family and friends and blessing those around us in service.
Let your mind drift back over the millennia to the beauty and magnificence of Eden. On the sixth day, God created Adam and Eve. The Bible records, “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). There was no sin, sickness, suffering, or death in the splendor of that Garden. Since God is love and we are created to love, God gave our first parents a gift of love—the Sabbath (1 John 4:8; Genesis 2:1–3). The first complete day Adam and Eve spent together was the Sabbath. Their first intimate moments of sharing and communicating were on the Sabbath. Sabbath is a day for strengthening relationships. It gives us time for our loving heavenly Father and for one another. It is a day to give time to strengthening our relationship with God and those we love.
Do you ever feel the week just rushes by and time for family is crowded out? Some studies indicate that fathers spend less than two hours a week one-on-one with their children. The Sabbath reminds us every week of what is really important.
Herman Wouk, the Jewish playwright, would not be without the Sabbath in his life. He describes how the Sabbath is an island of peace in the chaos of Broadway society. At sundown Friday night, he leaves the stress of the littered theater with the frenzy of opening night just hours away. As he arrives home to the warm embrace of his wife and the smiles of his children, he is encircled in loving relationships. The candles are lit. The table is set. The family eats and shares together. The children ask questions and the world of show business is forgotten. When Wouk returns to the theater Saturday evening after sunset, nothing much has changed there, but he has changed. His relaxing, restorative Sabbath has drawn him closer to his God and his family.2
A colleague remarked to Wouk after he came back to the theater one Saturday night, “ ‘I don’t envy you your religion, but I envy you your Sabbath.’ ”3 Who would not want to spend a day building better relationships with those you love?
For Jesus, Sabbath was about loving relationships. It was about service. This is precisely why Jesus performed numerous miracles on the Sabbath. On Sabbath, Jesus revealed the Father’s compassion to suffering humanity. When the Jewish religious leaders criticized Jesus for performing acts of healing on the Sabbath, He commented, “ ‘It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath’ ” (Matthew 12:12). The Sabbath is a day for doing good. Is a neighbor sick? Bring her a hot bowl of delicious homemade soup. Have you heard about a friend who is discouraged? Call them on the phone to lift their spirits. Do you sense the widower down the street is lonely? Invite him over for lunch.
On Sabbath, we remember our Creator. There is no better place to do that than out in nature. For years, my wife and I spent many Sabbath afternoons hiking when our children were growing up. Even now, although our children are now grown and married, my wife and I often spend Sabbaths in nature. We enjoy sharing together in the beauties of nature. Walking the trails near our home, listening to the birdsongs, seeing an occasional deer, and smelling the fragrant aroma of the wildflowers relaxes our tired bodies and lifts our spirits for another week.
The Sabbath is not drudgery. It is life-giving. The Sabbath is not a burden. It is a blessing. The Sabbath is much more than a duty. It is a delight.
If you have not experienced the exhilarating joy of Sabbath worship, why not begin this week? If you have not entered into the peace of Sabbath rest, why not start now? If you would like a closer relationship with your loved ones and friends, the Sabbath experience awaits you. The Sabbath is not simply something to be debated—it is a joy to be experienced. Why not experience the blessings of Sabbath for yourself? With arms wide open, Jesus says, “Come unto Me all you who are burdened, and I will give you rest.”
- Wikipedia contributors, “French Republican Calendar,” Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar (accessed March 11, 2009).
- Herman Wouk, This Is My God (New York: Back Bay Books, 1992), 45, 46.
- Ibid., 46.
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