You’ve probably heard of the fourth commandment in the list of Ten Commandments: “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.”

But you might have wondered if this commandment is relevant or important in today’s world. Or was that just for Old Testament times? Why do Sabbath in today’s world? How? And by the way, can Sabbath really be fun?!

“To Sabbath” means “to cease work” or “to rest.”

Exodus 20:8-11 introduces Sabbath:
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

Seven practical tips for Sabbath:

1.  Remember the Sabbath day.

Schedule the Sabbath in your life, just as you schedule your work. God has built the need for weekly Sabbath rest and rejuvenation into the very fabric of human life.

2.  Do Sabbath one out of every seven days.

Work six days, rest one day. God built this rhythm into us. We need it, and it honors Him.

3.  The particular day doesn’t matter so much.

Old Testament Jews observed Sabbath on Saturday, because God rested after the six days of Creation, not because He was tired, but to celebrate His Creation. Today, Christians often observed Sabbath on Sunday, because Jesus’ resurrection on the first day of the week celebrated the New Creation.

The point is not which day you do Sabbath. Romans 14:5 says, “Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds.”

As Jesus said in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.”

So you can celebrate a Sabbath on any day of the week. I believe it is more important to observe God’s intent on the Sabbath instead of focusing on any particular day.

If you and I disagree about this issue, we’re both in good company. Faithful Christians and well-known theologians have disagreed about this topic for centuries, so we’re both in good company. This is one of many topics we can disagree about without dividing over.

If you’d like to read a long history about the Sabbath in Christianity, click this Wikipedia article.

4.  In Sabbath, you trust God, not yourself, for your needs.

When you work every day of the week, you are depending upon yourself to provide for yourself and get everything done for yourself.

But when you purposely set apart one day each week to rest, rejuvenate, and connect, you acknowledge your dependence upon God instead of yourself.

5. Be a witness to the world by observing Sabbath.

God says to keep the Sabbath day holy, and to hallow the Sabbath. “Holy” and “hallowed” mean “set apart.”

When you lay aside your work one day each week, you set yourself apart from the world’s values. You graphically show that your ultimate trust is in God, not in the world’s workaholic culture.

Therefore, you are a witness that gives glory to Him!

6.  Don’t be legalistic about Sabbath.

In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees had twisted the Sabbath into a legalistic nightmare with all of their rules.

But Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath’s original purpose by transforming it from a burden to a blessing.

So don’t get caught up in Sabbath rules–what you can or cannot do on the Sabbath. Instead, focus on honoring God, restoring your own soul, and loving others. He knows your heart, and He will honor your desire to honor Him.

Examples of what to do on the Sabbath:

• Spend some extra time with God.
• Spend time with family and friends.
• Catch up on sleep, or just rest.
  Don’t do stuff that feels like labor, and avoid even errands, but without being legalistic. Meals, childcare, etc., might have to be done, but simplify them as much as you can on the Sabbath! The point is to set aside inward and outward striving, and to rest, rejuvenate, praise God, and trust Him to provide.
• Have a great time doing the things you enjoy! “Rest” doesn’t mean “boredom”!
• Invite God along for the fun!

7.  Reap the benefits!

Exodus 2:11 says the Sabbath day is “blessed,” which means it is full of good things.

It is amazing that when we take a day to rest and rejuvenate, we can get more done the other six days than we previously could not even do in seven!

But don’t let your motivation for doing Sabbath be to get more done! That would totally defeat the purpose!

The BIGGEST Sabbath blessing is your rock-solid internal confidence that God does indeed bless ALL of our days more fully when we honor Him by observing the ONE day of Sabbath rest!

What about you?

• Why do you need Sabbath in your life?
• What day of every week will be your Sabbath?
• What are some things you might do on your Sabbath days?
• How will you avoid making the Sabbath legalistic?
• If you do not yet observe a weekly Sabbath, when will you start?
• Who will hold you accountable for observing Sabbath?

Check out these books at Amazon:

• The Rest of God, by Mark Buchanan
• Sacred Rhythms, by Ruth Haley Barton
• Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, by Ruth Haley Barton

Questions or comments about Sabbath?

Feel free to comment or ask questions below.