What are the benefits of taking Sabbath time? - Sabbath - TouchPoints

Mark 6:30-31The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.

There is great value to rest, especially after hard work. Rest is not only for the recovery of energy, but also for the savoring of the work you have completed. Even Jesus, whose life and ministry on earth was limited, took the time to rest. Though forces and demands will conspire against your rest, you must continually make it your goal to pursue a holy pace.

Isaiah 58:13“Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day.”

Although, as Jesus clearly said, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, his point did not establish the Sabbath as an official “me day.” We benefit from Sabbath rest when our change of pace is God-centered.

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

God gave Sabbath rest to his people for his honor as well as for their welfare and delight. Allow yourself the joy and luxury of spending one day a week restoring your body and soul.

Exodus 31:12-17The Lord then gave these instructions to Moses: “Tell the people of Israel: ‘Be careful to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you from generation to generation. It is given so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy. You must keep the Sabbath day, for it is a holy day for you. . . .This is a covenant obligation for all time. It is a permanent sign of my covenant with the people of Israel. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and was refreshed.’”

It’s important to remember that the Sabbath principle was given at the same time as the building of the Tabernacle. In the midst of the holy urgency to construct the place of worship, the people were commanded to remember above all else the place of the Sabbath in the pace of their lives. From the outset, God warned against the fallacy that religious effort should replace obedience to him.