Sabbath Thought - De-Stressing

One of the curses of our age is the pace of life. All around us there is non-stop activity. It is no small irony that with all of the technology and electronics available to us we live in a time of unprecedented stress. It seems that even with all our labor and time saving devices we have less time than ever to simply relax.  Families are overcommitted to work, errands, chores, school activities and more. The stress of the world around us comes at a heavy price. More and more evidence supports the understanding that many of our modern illnesses and sicknesses are created or compounded by the stress in our lives. We in God's church are not always immune from this stress.

So, what is the solution? Any time we purchase a new device it comes with an owner's manual to help understand how to use and take care of the device properly. This life we have comes with its own owner's manual although most of mankind is unaware of it. Our owner's manual is the Bible, and in God's Word we are given a very fundamental command to taking care of ourselves in Exodus 20:8-11 - this is the command to observe the Sabbath day. In resting on the Sabbath day, we have opportunity (in one application) to break the cycle of our work week and to break the cycle of stress in our life.

Scientists who study stress have concluded that the amount of work, the type of work, the length of the task is not as critical in dealing with stress as is the simple action of taking a break from the work. In the mechanical world a motor that is never turned off wears out faster than a motor that is allowed to "rest" periodically - even if the total hours of load on both are equal. The Sabbath day is not something God seeks to impose upon mankind, but rather He designed the Sabbath for man so that he could rest from his labor (Mark 2:27).

Is your life busy? Do you need more sleep? Would it be nice to have extra time to simply talk to and be with your family? Do you need more uninterrupted time to pray and study God's Word? God sought to give mankind a blessing in the Sabbath day, so that we would have time to step back from the cares of this life to de-stress and to ponder the wonderful future He has in store for all of mankind. The Sabbath is a day to rest in God (Exodus 35:2)!

I wish you a restful (and de-stressing) Sabbath,

Dan Dowd

16 November, 2024