The Invitation

What will it take to live in the Sabbath rest that Jesus offers your soul? What will it take to actually experience the peace that surpasses all understanding? It will require that you declare war on the cultural pressure toward ceaseless activity. You will have to radically adjust your plans. And yes, this may cause you to fall behind the productivity of your coworkers and friends. You may look irresponsible or even foolish.

Jesus extends to every believer an invitation into a different way of life.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30 NIV).

He offers us his yoke. In ancient times, a yoke was a piece of wood that connected two plow animals together. It meant that everywhere one of the pair went, the other went with him.

Notice that Jesus does not offer to take your yoke. He’s not a genie that grants your every wish. Finding rest requires that you take his yoke. You go at his speed. You follow where he leads. Jesus says that if you do take his yoke upon you, the results will be astounding. Because sharing the yoke of Jesus means that he’s inviting you into a joint destiny. Where he is, you will go. What he obtains, you will obtain. The reward that awaits him, you will likewise receive.

It will require that you learn from him. This means an entirely different pace of life. It means incorporating the weekly rhythm of Sabbath into your routine. Not as a religious law, but as a spiritual strategy to free yourself from a performance culture and break the power of a performance mentality in your own heart.

Every week, designate a twenty-four-hour period and mark this as Sabbath time. To do this weekly is an act of faith. It’s a way of telling your soul, “This world can run without me. I am not God. I do not keep the planet spinning on its axis.”

If you do this, things will be left undone and projects will go uncompleted. That’s why Sabbath takes faith. When you walk away from that unfinished project, you are submitting your life to a reason greater than your own. Natural reason says, “If I leave that undone, I’ll fall behind.” But supernatural reason says, “By leaving that undone, I am declaring my trust in a God who works while I rest. He is the Captain of my soul, and I am dependent on him.” This act of faith releases the blessing of the Sabbath.

The practice of Sabbath is also an act of liberation. It is your way of declaring war on a system that would try to convince you that you are what you produce. Don’t misunderstand: your work is important, but it is not the deepest part of who you are. Every time you engage in Sabbath, you suffocate the power of your own insecurity. You break the curse of shame, stepping into Christ and out of striving.