Even God rested, so why aren’t you?
“So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath.” Mark 2:28
Our American culture endorses a full schedule. We have a pervasive spoken and unspoken mindset that if you’re busy you’re better off. For example, let a kid have chill time? What? No. They have to be doing something. And the something? Yep. It is usually something on their device! Their games and their chat times are, to say the least, consuming.
This is not just for kiddos. There is little or no “downtime” on the other side of the age spectrum either, and here I include parents of school-aged children and teens. When have you, for example, taken a DAY to relax? If God called for—and followed—having one day of rest in seven, why aren’t you doing the same?
The question comes down to what you value, and where you value it. The human condition has not changed. We prize interactions, community, and our friendships. Even the introverts out there see the need for connections on their scale. But do we connect too much? If we are so busy being busy, what, besides silence, are we missing?
Consider silence is Sabbath and Sabbath is silence. So many spend so much time on our phones, for example, that we are missing the world’s lessons, cadences, rhythms and surprises.
Furthermore, we are missing the stillness that allows God to be God in our lives, and this is hurting us.
A way to know if you’re addicted to technology today is to actually turn it off—or, in the case of a power outage, have it turned off for you. Are you reading books that inform or enlighten your soul, or are you reading/sending texts that, in honesty, are fillers?
Here’s the better question. What are you avoiding by staying so busy?
I say you’re missing God. Yes, you can experience God through technology. You’re doing so right now! But don’t let this new norm trip you up.
That is what happened in this scripture with Jesus and his disciples (Mark 2:23-28). The religious leaders were so busy worshipping not God but the rules they had placed around the worship of God. Out of habits they created, they missed the point, which is what Sabbath is intended to do—give us rest.
Be the Lord of your Sabbath by making a Sabbath. Shut down something. Press the power button. Stare into space. Breathe. Be still. Yeah, it will totally feel weird, but give yourself five minutes to do nothing except sit still. What you’re avoiding with the pace you keep is a God who wants the pace you keep to be joyful, not stressful.
PRAYER: I’m going to do it, God. I’m going to give you five minutes. Just us. You and me. Keep me from wanting to talk with You in this time. Instead, encourage me to just listen to You (and You alone) who is inside of me. Amen.
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