“[The Sabbath] has largely been forgotten by the church, which has uncritically mimicked the rhythms of the industrial and success-obsessed West. The result? Our road-weary, exhausted churches have largely failed to integrate Sabbath into their lives as vital elements of Christian discipleship. It is not as though we do not love God—we love God deeply. We just do not know how to sit with God anymore.”

He continued: 

“We have become perhaps the most emotionally exhausted, psychologically overworked, spiritually malnourished people in history.” 

(AJ Swoboda as quoted in The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.)

Woah. Reread that. 

When reading this piece in the book, my heart broke. I felt like my eyes had been opened to a freight train zipping past me at a hundred miles an hour and I wanted so desperately to find the emergency brake and pull it. This train is painted proudly in three colors; red, white, and blue. It’s a train many around the world envy and desire to be on, and all those aboard it boast that they are. We live in a ‘the more work the better’ culture where our burn-out and exhaustion seem to be sad trophies we lift high to show that we are doing the most we can, breaking past the limits. Why take a day off to rest?? Someone else is working if you aren’t, so you better do everything possible so you can be better than the person next to you. 

We have unknowingly gone against our natural rhythms, those practiced and crafted by GOD ALMIGHTY. We have come to an understanding that we don’t need a day off. We have slowly allowed our wounded Western ways to bleed into our relationship with the Creator. Many have adopted this mentality from society that the more you do, the more love or praise you will receive. Simple...do more and be better and you will get more praise.

Oh, but the Kingdom of God is called an upside-down kingdom, so it’s quite the opposite. It’s a kingdom where we notice that nothing we have done has given us this salvation. There is also nothing we can do to gain us more salvation than the Christian to our left on Sunday more who doesn’t raise their hands in worship. The body of Christ shouldn’t be a place where pride or competition is welcome or even allowed. We need the body to encourage one-another and to see the value of all members, all gifts. There is a heartbeat of urgency in the West that is crying out for rest to be re-implemented in the Church and society as a whole. It’s as if we are encouraging highway speeds in a neighborhood, with no problem on the horizon, trusting that this pace of life is somehow sustainable and beneficial for the next generation. 

Some treat the Sabbath day as the rest stop on the side of the highway pushing a, “five minutes tops, get a snack and get back in the car” mentality. Rest-stop snacks are not ever going to fuel you enough for the trip that is life. You will get short tempered and lose patience without substance in you. Don’t treat your sabbath as a rest-stop, but make it the beginning of the 6 day trip ahead. We aren’t called to just be people who take a sabbath, but we are called to be ‘People of Rest’. It was a command to ‘Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it Holy.’ (Exodus 20:8) Allow it to grow in you a mentality of sitting at the feet of God the Father, and Him pouring out His abundant love on you. 

“... It is not as though we do not love God—we love God deeply. We just do not know how to sit with God anymore.”

I say all of this as encouragement to take a step back and see where society bleeds into our spiritual disciplines. I struggle to sit with Him, to carve out time, to make Him priority...but it’s worth fighting for and failing at, so we can grow.

We love God...now let’s learn to sit with Him; our good Father, our Creator, our Friend, our Savior, our everything. He deserves that much. 

Let yourself be loved by God today.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 MSG