Have you ever heard those words? Maybe you actually said them a time or two. I know I have. Often, such words are used within the context of parenting. Something like: “Eat your vegetables. Someday you’ll thank me.” Or “Get your homework done. Someday you’ll thank me.”
What is behind that very simple sentence? Usually, it’s said in the context of encouraging an activity that offers little immediate benefit but does produce benefit down the road. For example, doing one’s homework, though laborious and unpleasant, produces opportunities and options for college selection. Practicing the scales on the piano affords the opportunity to eventually play a sonata with ease. Very few people love doing their homework and I don’t know anyone that gets giddy about doing scales. But the reason to engage in those activities is because of a future reward or achievement.
The truth is, it’s difficult to engage in something that may seem counter-intuitive or even burdensome unless, of course, we see the upside to doing the unpleasant activity. Maybe that is why we are so resistant to keeping a Sabbath day. After all, what’s the upside?
On Sunday, January 1st, I exhorted the Arcade congregation to, for three months, set aside a day of the week for Sabbath-keeping. If you weren’t there, I encourage you to go to our YouTube channel where you can review the teaching. The sermon itself was somewhat easy to deliver. After all, the Bible uses the word “Sabbath” a few times. (For those of you keeping score at home – 139 times to be precise.) Yes, the sermon was easy to preach. I’m finding however, that it takes work to…well…not work.
For the first time in our 41 years of marriage, Debbie and I have established a Sabbath Day. What we quickly discovered was that “stopping” didn’t come naturally. Especially because there didn’t seem to be a viable reason for the Creator to command us to stop. Does he not know that we have mouths to feed, bills to pay, lawns to mow and clothes to fold? Words like “responsibility,” “productivity,” “tasks,” and “to do lists” dominate our lives. Debbie and I have discovered deep in our DNA that we have this propensity for constant motion. And not just motion for motion’s sake. Rather, motion that points to significance and usefulness. We are Americans after all! We’re doers. We’re accomplishers (Is that a word?). We’re achievers. To take a “day off” seems unpatriotic, lazy, slothful even.
No doubt such was the response of the Israelites when God first dropped the command to keep the Sabbath (Exodus 20). Throughout their history and leading into the public ministry of Jesus, the people of God couldn’t seem to get it right. Think about that for a moment: The Israelites couldn’t get “stopping” right. As much as I would like to shake my self-righteous head in disgust at their rebellion, I must confess that I’m right there with our Jewish friends. Like I said above, Debbie and I have found that it requires effort - effort that doesn’t make sense in order to keep a Sabbath day.
Maybe it’s time that we take a stab at doing something our God modeled on the seventh day of creation. Maybe because we have Jesus and no longer need to strive, we place ourselves in a weekly environment where God actively reminds us to stop striving because he is enough. Maybe we quit trying to find the upside to Sabbath-keeping and merely trust our Creator that it will be good for us.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to establish a Sabbath Day. Experience the awkwardness of doing nothing for the glory of God. Shelve, for a day, the idea that everything is up to you, that unless you do it, it won’t get done. For a day, suspend the instinctive desire to accomplish, to finish, to complete or produce. Embrace the reality that within the hours of a Sabbath Day you are connecting with the Creator who himself rested. In doing so, perhaps you can hear the whisper of our gracious Heavenly Father say, “Someday you’ll thank me.”
Remember…
On the Sabbath…
We rest
We play
No work
God is enough`
See you Sunday!
