As you may have noticed, the last couple of Sundays have been post-less on this blog. The previous Sunday, Adrian Holloway preached at church about the importance of a day of rest and, although I realise one can write a post on Saturday and schedule it to appear on Sunday, I decided that I would choose not to do that.
The received wisdom of blogging is that you have to post frequently (read: daily) or people will get bored and drift away. Since this blog is about trying to change the received wisdom in all kinds of different areas of life, though, I think it’s worth practising what I preach.
Adrian gave the example of a chain of toy shops in the UK whose owner decided he would never open on a Sunday. Sundays are a big shopping day, so he potentially stood to lose a lot of money by sticking to his principles. His chain is currently thriving, though, despite the recession. It could be God honouring his sacrifice and bringing him good business the rest of the week, or it could be that his staff feel well-rested and are able to function better as human beings because they get a dedicated day every week to spend with their families, alone, worshipping or relaxing as they see fit.
Or perhaps it’s a little bit of both.
God designed us, so he knows what makes us function best. If he says having a day of rest each week is what will do that, then I think it’s worth at least giving it a try. I don’t need to be legalistic – Jesus gave pretty short shrift to the Pharisees who strove to obey every line of the law at the expense of its heart of compassion for people – but by deliberately not posting, I am reminding myself that this is a day to focus on something (or Someone) different.
I hope you had a restful day and are all fired up to start the new week.
Happy Monday!
on Mar 30th at 1:44 pm
While you are on the subject of busting perceived wisdom, here’s another one to think about. Do you rest after you have done your work, or before?
I think most people would agree that you rest after work because by then you are tired and need to recuperate; and we can point to God as an example because He did six days work and rested the seventh. Adam however was created, told about all the work he had to do and, before starting, had to observe God’s day of rest.
The Christian church observes Sunday, the first day of the week, as a rest day. Was that by accident. I don’t think so. We observe Sunday because that was the day Jesus rose from the dead AFTER COMPLETING HIS WORK. (actually there is another reason but it might take too long to explain here – it has to do with which day of the week Pentecost was celebrated on)
So AFTER the work of creation was completed man rests before beginning work, and AFTER redemption is completed man rests before beginning the new work of making disciples of all nations.
The purpose of resting with God on the Sabbath day is not to recover but to prepare.