Over the last year, Bishop King has been challenging us to develop an intentional plan for discipling people in our churches. He has suggested what he calls "Ten Timeless Values" for discipleship. They are ten spiritual disciplines that when practiced consistently contribute to deepening our relationship with Jesus and equipping us to follow Him along the way that leads to life.
During 2012, I will be putting our a devotional guide around these "Ten Timeless Values". Each month it will focus on one spiritual discipline and there will be one devotion published each week. The first month will focus on Sabbath and the first week's devotion is below. I pray it will help you give some intentiona focus to your spiritual growth.
A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”
Week 1
Discipline: SABBATH
Word: “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest;
even in plowing time and in harvest time, you shall rest.”
Exodus 34:21
“Come to me all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28
Reflection: REST
It only stands to human reason that if work is commanded six to one over rest, it must be far more important. After all, we live in a world with a market view of everything. In our culture, time is not holy, “Time is money”, and time is a limited resource so we must get the most out of every minute, hour, day, and week. The modern answer to this problem is “time management”, learning how to be more efficient and more effective, to get more done in less time. We hope that technology and technique can offer us power over our unmanageable schedules and lives. And yet in spite of it all we never catch up and so we never rest. Maybe that’s why many of us struggle with feeling more guilt over resting than we do about breaking one of the Ten Commandments! The result of our immersion in this culture of endless pursuit is that we are weary and may only stop when we break physically or mentally.
But, what if we looked to an ancient solution to our problem? What does it say about the power of Sabbath that one day of rest can balance out six days of work? How powerful must the practice of Sabbath be for our lives? And what does it say about the critical nature of rest that God would choose to make it one of only ten primary directives for life? The commands that God offered the Israelites made it clear that if they ignored them they would “surely perish”. Perishing is a good word to describe us, it is to wilt from being depleted. We go and give until there is nothing left and then we perish because we put nothing back. It is telling that God would command us specifically to stop and rest “even in plowing time and in harvest time”. In other words, not when our work is done, but when our work is heaviest. I agree with Eugene Peterson that pastors are the most notorious “Sabbath breakers” of all, and the danger is that our congregations will congratulate us and reward us for it. I don’t think they would feel the same way if we are caught breaking the command about adultery or stealing.
Many of us grew up with an experience of Sabbath as a law instead of a gift. It was all about what we could do or not do. Much like the mistake of the Pharisees, Sabbath became legalistic and oppressive. Jesus however reminds us that “Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man.” In other words, it was a gift. In the creation story, God gives humanity four great gifts: companionship, provision, vocation, and rest. What we have taken as a command to ignore or rebel against, Jesus came and offered as an invitation to life, “come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest.” Allow yourself to receive a divine gift this week. Practice Sabbath.
Practice: The traditional Jewish Sabbath begins at sundown with the lighting of the Sabbath candles. This week try setting aside a “Sabbath time” each day and begin by lighting a candle, turning off the cell phone, television, and computer, make a conscious decision to give everything pending in your life to God for your Sabbath time, “be still and know that I am God” (I can handle it while you aren’t!). Then enjoy some silence to sit, breath, and simply be for a while. Find time for a guilt free nap this week during your “Sabbath”.
Resources: “Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest” by Wayne Muller
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