The Bible makes a considerable point of the Sabbath. Jesus was chastised by the Pharisees for not following their Sabbath rules, and Jesus answered that God made the Sabbath for man, not man for the Sabbath. Which brings a question to mind: “Are we taking full advantage of something God made specifically to bless us?”

The principle of the Sabbath rest is a lot bigger than eliminating some buying options on a particular day of the week. It is about unplugging. It is about focusing on what truly matters in life. It is about giving our bodies a break from adrenaline, pursuing physical and mental renewal.

As with all disobedience, when we don’t follow God’s directives, we are the loser.

The cool thing is that we don’t have to wait for a designated day of the week to practice the Sabbath principle. Sabbath rest, no matter when we take it, allows us time and space to reset our perspective. When we are busy, when life is hectic, we often allow our perspective to be shaped, without realizing it’s happening.

When we take a Sabbath rest, a pause from the circumstances of life, we can reflect on what is true. What is beautiful. What is lasting. We can reshape our perspective to what God would have us think.

Our world is so obsessed with circumstances that stepping away from them has been equated with “doing nothing”. It’s like we slip into a void. But the truth is that Sabbath rest is as much a rhythm of life as anything else we do. We need to take time off when training for a marathon or we will over-work ourselves and do damage to our bodies. The same is true for our souls.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
 Exodus 20:8-11