This is the one-hundred-seventy-second lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.
“And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all his work.” Genesis 2:3
How would you respond if someone were to ask you: “What was the most special day in your life?” Maybe it was graduation day, or a wedding day, or the day when your first child was born. Maybe it was the first time you traveled to an ocean or a mountain range. Maybe the day you gave your life to God and took that step of faith from which there was no turning back.
God knows that all of us need more than one “special day” in our lives, so he established the idea of a cyclical special day called the Sabbath. Now this was God’s special day before it ever was ours. He called it “holy,” which means “different” or “set aside for a special purpose.” Creation was accomplished, and then God stopped (ceased, shabbat). In the Old Testament, priests were sanctified or consecrated. So were the furnishings of the Temple of God and the Temple itself. Set aside for a special purpose.
God wants each of us to have a “blessed” day—and doesn’t that sound good! To have a day—not just a once-in-a-lifetime day—but a regular day, a once-a-week day, when we cease what we normally do and do something different in order to connect with God, connect with the important people in our life, disconnect from the busy, frenetic, competitive, tension-filled days. How long ago did we forget that God built into the creation itself this holy time?
For some people the seventh day works out to be a real Shabbat. They stay away from the office, do special things with the family, and reconnect with the home. A time of worship with a people congregated, whether it’s Saturday night or Sunday morning or night, that adds a holy time to the week when regularly observed. For some people it’s a different day of the week, but there is a time when we say: “God, please do something different today. Please give me rest from my work. Please restore my body, heart, and soul. Please bless this day in a way that changes all of my days.”
APPLICATION
Sometime today, sit down with your calendar and think about what day during the week could be a different kind of day for you on a regular basis. Would it be Sundays? Saturdays? Another day? Think this through (and discuss with your family members if you live with family). Make some lists: What activities could you avoid doing on this special day? What special things could you intentionally do? And then ask yourself this challenging question: what are the barriers I would have to overcome to make this happen?
[To be continued – Seven Days a Week]
[See previous – The Rest of God]
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Mel Lawrenz (@MelLawrenz) trains an international network of Christian leaders, ministry pioneers, and thought-leaders. He served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, for ten years and now serves as Elmbrook’s teaching pastor. He has a PhD in the history of Christian thought and is on the adjunct faculty of Trinity International University. Mel’s many books include Spiritual Leadership Today: Having Deep Influence in Every Walk of Life (Zondervan, 2016). See more of Mel’s writing at WordWay.