Unpluggedनमूना

God never promised us a perfect life. Things are never going to settle down quite as much as we wish they would, and we will hardly ever accurately predict “I got this”. In reading through the Bible there are actually many, many moments where God uses the chaos of life to point people to Him.

So whether life is just a momentarily a little chaotic or it’s always (and only) overwhelmingly insane, remember the assurance of Jesus in John 16:33 “In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” 

When we look at how Jesus “conquers the world” it isn’t by waging war against the chaos (like sometimes we attempt to do). He actually conquers through peace. Think about it: It is peace that brings us to Christ. It is peace that saves our souls. And it is peace that saves our weeks from peril, the peace of a day of rest. God knows we need a soft place to land, a way to re-center our souls. So, God gave us “Sabbath”.  

In Jewish tradition, there is a name for this: “Shabbat shalom” – literally, “may your day of no work be peaceful.” One person would say this as a greeting to another, and that person would respond in kind: “May your day of no work be peaceful as well.” It was almost like built-in accountability in case someone would be tempted to re-enter the life of crazy-busy-insane that they regularly walked.

Because God is not only the inventor of peace but also claims it as a defining part of His character, another way of saying it is “May God be in your rest, and may you be in the rest of God.” A day of rest is a day to know peace, to experience, and to express the peace of God.

Do you practice “sabbath” in your life?  How could you get to a place where you are able to spend one day — just one day — each week unplugging from everything and resting in God’s peace?