REST AS A DUTY OR A PRIVILEGE!

REST AS A DUTY OR A PRIVILEGE!

Ex 20:9-11

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Mark 2:27-28

27 And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath:

28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.

It’s hard for me to fathom the brouhaha that raged between the Pharisees and Jesus regarding the Sabbath. The legalists had turned something good and refreshing into a meticulous taskmaster. Speaking of taskmasters, it is not unreasonable to think that the Lord meant for the Sabbath to show that He was not like the slave drivers of their Egyptian captivity. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

At the end of creation God did not rest because He was tired but because he was finished. We, on the other hand, have been given rest to refresh the body, to restore the mind and to rejoice the heart. The word recreation means to play but of you stare at the word long enough you will easily see that it says “re-creation.” In rest there is a rebuilding and a healing of those things worn away by labor.

Personality certainly defines both work and rest. Some people’s answer to weariness is more work or perhaps a different kind of work. Some who work in offices in business suits will don work clothes and chop wood or build something. They seem to thrive on it. Others, like me, are more reflective and we enjoy reclining upon the green pastures beside the still waters. To those like me rest is mental and spiritual. We like to think.

We can’t be at our best when there are so many responsibilities and deadlines that we can’t adequately deal with any of them. We lose the ability to prioritize the tasks and either one gets preferred treatment or all suffer alike. I’ve been told that even while sleeping the mind is at work sorting and organizing the files.

Mark 6:30-32

30 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.

31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.

Check your schedule. Take your pulse. It is possible that you need to take a break.

Dear Lord, there seems to be no time for a forced rest. There is so much to do and everything presents itself as most important. Let me see the need of reconstructive leisure and let me not abuse it. AMEN