I started practicing Sabbath a year ago in response to how much I prioritized my work and achievements. Let me tell you, friends, Sabbath-keeping is a huge game changer when it comes to spiritual maturity.
After keeping Sabbath for as little as a month, I was amazed at how much resting changed how I view every single area of my life.
It changed how I view God.
It changed how I view myself.
It changed how I view my possessions.
It changed how I view others.
I thought that I already viewed all of these relational spaces correctly. If you had asked me about them a year ago, I could have told you the right theological answers. But Sabbath-keeping converted the head-knowledge to heart-knowledge.
You see, we typically abide by Descartes' pattern of reason: I think, therefore I am.
What Sabbath taught me is this: I am, therefore I think.
Before I could think properly, the I AM had to show me who I am.
Sabbath taught me to build my identity upon the relationship that I have with God. By practicing Sabbath, I grew into this identity, which in turn changed how I thought about all the rest of my relationships.
I'm sure the Israelites had to have this same shift in thinking when God first gave them the Sabbath command in the book of Exodus. As a people group who had been enslaved for 400 years, they had been deeply ingrained with the idea that their worth came from how productive they were. They weren't ever permitted to stop and rest, and God's Sabbath command was extremely jarring to them. It challenged their former identity as slaves. It called them to a new way of doing.
But slowly, by keeping the Sabbath command faithfully, the Israelites grew out of their relationship with Egypt and into their relationship with Yahweh. God used the Sabbath to restructure their way of doing, which in turn led to a new way of thinking. Sabbath-keeping helped the Israelites form a new identity in the relationship they had with Yahweh. Through Sabbath, God does the same thing with us today.
Right thinking doesn't always lead to right doing. But right doing often leads to right thinking.
P.S. My friend, Kayla, and I just finished an interactive devotional study on Sabbath that can give you the tools to get started with Sabbath-keeping. This 14-day study will walk you through the book of Exodus and guide you to make Sabbath a part of your everyday life. When you start doing the practice, the right thinking will follow. Purchase the book on August 14 or sign up to receive a sample right now.
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