Episode 7: The Pause Button

In today’s world, pursuing rest is often viewed as weakness. We value busyness, and the frazzled pace of life becomes a badge of productivity and honor. But is this exhausting and self-induced state of constant motion truly what God intends for our lives? What if there is a better way?

In the book of Genesis God created the world, and after the first five days He replied, “It is good.” After the sixth day, the day He created humankind, He said, “It is very good,” and then He took the seventh day off for rest. The Hebrew word for this “day” is Sabbath, or Shabbat—meaning stop, rest and delight. God stopped to delight in the life He created, and we are instructed to do the same thing. 

Why is this so hard? Author John Comer says, “Ultimately we have a problem with desire. Desire for more things, more accolades, more careerism and consumerism. Empty pursuit of unending desire will always lead to unrest.” 

Mark 2:23-28 shows Jesus and the disciples on the Sabbath picking grain from the side of the road and eating it. The Pharisees scolded them saying they should not work on the Sabbath. Apparently, they viewed rubbing the grain together and eating it as work. Jesus replied that the Sabbath is for man, not man for the Sabbath. He explains that a true Sabbath is restorative and healthy for man—not a set of rules and regulations. We’re built to need to stop, rest and delight in our lives.

In Luke 13 Jesus heals a woman bent straight over for eighteen years. He saw her need. He wasn’t rushing through a service teaching and leading for a big crowd to applaud Him. He did this purposefully on the Sabbath to show that He sees our needs and delights in healing our lives.

Gutsy Faith Challenge: Three times this week, stop your life. Be present. Unplug. Delight.

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