It’s not to having work that is the curse
We were created by God to work. We were created by God to achieve, to create, to succeed, to produce, to invent…
It’s not work that is the curse, it’s the toil and the resistance. If Adam had never sinned and we were still in the garden we wouldn’t be taking naps and playing games all the time. We’d still be working and producing and creating. Many people feel lazy and lethargic because of a lack of work ethic. Work hard and work well. It’s good for you.
Western culture has destroyed the concept of resting.
We think it means sleeping, vegging out and entertaining ourselves.
Rest is taking time for ourselves and feeding ourselves on something of substance.
Last week I was sick and I spent the day at home. My head was pounding for most of the day but I didn’t want to use that as an excuse for not connecting with God that day. So I read my Bible even though my eyes hurt to focus on something. I actually felt physically better, and that night I didn’t feel as if I’d wasted my day.
Don’t use your day off to be lazy.
So often when we take a day off we don’t do anything all day thinking that that is what rest is. That’s not rest, that’s being lazy. We can rest without being lazy.
The idea of the Sabbath isn’t that you don’t work it’s that you don’t do anything to promote your business.
On my day off I don’t do any support raising tasks, nor do I work on any design projects I have. That doesn’t mean I don’t work. I just don’t do anything to build my little ministry. Your day off is a day to say, “Lord I trust my ministry and my income with you. I trust that I can take a day off from it and it won’t fall apart because you’re in charge of it.”
What I do do on my day off is sleep in, have breakfast with my wife, get ready for my day, spend some time with God, do some chores around the house, run some errands, etc… When I start back into my work routine on Monday I don’t want to feel drained from my weekend but energized.
I don’t think Mondays are so hard because they’re the first day of the week, they’re hard because we didn’t do anything productive for 48 hours.
Yuri said:
“The idea of the Sabbath isn’t that you don’t work it’s that you don’t do anything to promote your business.”
This is an intersting and new concept to me. Could you go into more detail here … some scriptures would be helpful, too.
I have tried to set aside a day to rest. I think it’s important. Before reading this my idea of rest was not doing anything stressful … like I don’t do laundry (maybe it’s just me, but laundry gets me uptight
). And I don’t study hard core, but it’s more of a day of reflection and of meditation and feeding my heart. I’ve tried not to do chores because growing up I got used to putting chores and stress in the same sentence. Maybe the issue is deeper here, in that I need to go back and ask the Lord to renew the way I look at these things …
Anyway, I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on Sabbath. What do you do to energize yourself? Do you think it’s more of a mentality rather than the specific things you do?
Posted on October 20, 2006 at 8:56 am
Shawn said:
Yuri - taking your ’sabbath’ as a day of reflection and of meditation and feeding your heart is exactly right! I do think it is more of a mentality rather than the specific things you do. If chores get you uptight then do them on other days, that is fine. You ask really good questions.
Posted on October 20, 2006 at 9:38 am
Ruth said:
yeah, and you know what i really like about the ’sabbath’? Fasting for example really is like a sabbath too..it’s a sabbath for your soul. that is so great when i think of it.. you can even go to work, fast and still have sabbath for your soul because you’re pondering on the word of God in your heart, having communion with Him through prayer. and God’s desire to establish the nations in the House of Prayer reality through enojoyable prayer is related to keep the sabbath rest!
Okay, that last statement actually is not mine, but I liked it
Posted on October 21, 2006 at 2:43 am
Troy said:
@ Shawn:
I realize you may never go back and read this comment, but I just read the above post, from perusing your “Life Hacks”, and it really helped me! I’m trying to get used to the intensity of the full-time lifestyle at IHOP, and I’ve recognized that there is a mentality present among many here that is significantly different from that of most Americans regarding work, and the traditional business work week (of some necessity, obviously, considering the nature of a 24/7 ministry).
Some of what that mindset difference is, I had been able to surmise, but still didn’t completely get it. Your thoughts here help tremendously toward the end of my “getting it”–I can see some mentalities I’ve never quite been fully able to shake, which need to change. I’m going to try thinking a bit differently about some of these things. I think it will help. Seems simple, but thanks a lot!
Posted on April 9, 2007 at 4:47 pm
{Shawn} said:
@ Troy: I always know when new comments are left, even on older posts. The full-time life at IHOP is ‘intense’ to say the least. I am glad this helped you out.
Posted on April 10, 2007 at 6:08 am
Spooling Down | The Fight Spot said:
[…] It’s not how much you work, but how much you rest. And ultimately, how you rest. […]
Posted on August 24, 2007 at 9:46 am
Yorkali said:
I must say, as an Seventh-Day Adventist I was truly blessed by this. Thank you so much for your ministry on this blog.
Posted on April 19, 2008 at 5:07 am