Let me guess, you're "stayin busy."

Mark 2:23-24
23) One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.
24) The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

So, here they are walking through a field when the disciples break the law. Yes, that's right. They were criminals, at least according to the standards of the Pharisees. What were they guilty of? Work. More specifically, working on the Sabbath.

You might be saying, "what's the Sabbath?". I'm glad you asked.

Sabbath is a Hebrew word that means "to rest from labour". God set up Sabbath in Genesis & intended it to be a day that people didn't work. Traditional Jewish teaching said that any form of labor was work, so it was a day to do, well, nothing. When the disciples broke the law, they were breaking rule #5. Better known as the 5th commandment. Check this out in Exodus.

Exodus 20:8-11
8) Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9) Work six days and do everything you need to do. 10) But the seventh day is a Sabbath to GOD your God. Don't do any work--not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. 11) For in six days GOD made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore GOD blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day.

The question after reading this is not how to "observe the Sabbath", but how to "keep it holy". See, I think we've got observing the Sabbath down. I think we've become masters of observing the Sabbath. I just think we stink at keeping it holy. How many times have you been physically present at church, but spiritually or mentally, you were a million miles away. You're guilty of not keeping the Sabbath holy.

The heart of rule #5 wasn't for you to not work, or not go to school, but for you to not be distracted. I think God knew that in 2006, in Austin Texas there would be some teenagers who were over-stimulated, over-committed, & under-rested. The point of Sabbath is to free your mind of junk so you can find true rest in Jesus. I know that sounds churchy, but Jesus knew what He was talking about when He said in Matthew 11:28 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest."

We're a society that takes pride in the fact that we're "stayin busy", & we seem to brag daily that we can't stop breaking rule #5. Would you take a Sabbath, even if it's not the seventh day? Would you have a day without cellphones, emails, or text messages? Would you have a day where you don't think about work, deadlines, or meetings? Would you have a day & rest in God?

May your soul pause long enough to take a deep breath. May your storms be calmed in the silence. And may the Lord cause you to know what it means to find true rest.