Making Room

Last week we explored the idea of Sabbath.  In summary, it's God-ordained rest from the world to live a whole day in God's kingdom here in preparation for our eternity.

Often we think of Sabbath as a day of relaxing.  Naps, movies, walks, etc.

I'm not saying you shouldn't relax on the Sabbath, but just "resting" begs the question - Resting from what?

The Gospels tell us that on the Sabbath Jesus:

• Harvested Corn (Matthew 12)
• Healed the sick (Matthew 12)
• Taught (Mark 6)
• Cast out demons (Luke 4)
• Ate with pharisees (Luke 14)

In fact, the only time we read about Jesus not doing ANYTHING on the Sabbath is when He was dead (Mark 15:42-16:1).  

So, what is Jesus showing us here?  That the rest God speaks of in Genesis when He observes Sabbath, is rest from noneternal things (the creation of a finite world) in order to fully enjoy His Kingdom.  

So, my first question for you is - 

How can you rest from earthly/wordly/mortal things on the Sabbath to create space and time to enjoy God's kingdom?

If Jesus was a woman, living right now (alot of Ifs...just go with it), the list of His Sabbath activities above might read:

• Made dinner
• Tended to sick kids
• Taught a church class
• Cast out demons - - - - I got nothing.  Parented teenagers?
• Went to a dinner party

At first glance, this list does not sound very "Sabbathy".  House stuff, mom stuff, church stuff, friend stuff.  Aren't these the things we actually want a break from come Sunday?

I think the key is freeing ourselves up from our regular worldly responsibilities and routines on Sunday SO THAT we can go full throttle at being peace makers, meek spouses/friends/parents/roommates, mercy givers.  SO THAT we can seeking purity and righteousness and thereby enjoy God's kingdom.  

Great....so how do we make that practical?  How do we actually create space and time to do this?

Here's a few ideas:

• Don't cook: Sometimes my mom has to remind me that it's ok to eat cereal for a meal, or cheese and crackers, or run by Taco Bell.  You probably do some kind of major meal prep most days of the week.  On Sundays, give yourself a break.  Pull out the crockpot (click this link for crockpot ideas that don't involve cream of somethings - does anyone else get grossed out by that?).  Free up some time to feed your family in other ways.
• Paper Plates:  Pull out the paper (*environmental gasp*).  I feel like I'm washing dishes all day long sometimes, and there's not that many of us.  Not washing dishes on a Sunday sounds thrilling, personally.
• No Homework: I don't know how practical this would be for our highschoolers, but of course, we want them to enjoy Sabbath as well, and learn how to practice it.  Kids today spend HOURS on homework every week.  Using Sunday as another study day means our kids don't have a single day they can just pursue God, a pattern that will follow them into adulthood.  Consider making it a rule that homework gets done before Sunday, or it doesn't get done.  You might start by saying that you're not available to help on Sundays but are happy, of course, to help any other day.  The next steps might be slowly tapering off the study so that they can learn how they need to adjust their study time.  Maybe Sundays are only for catching up on reading, etc.  Were you as surprised as I was to discover in college that no one expects you to do all the reading?!  Why can't we be more flexible now if it means helping our kids have a Sabbath.

What are your ideas?  What are some of your daily responsibilities that you could let go for a day in order to spiritually rest?  Looking forward to your ideas!