PODCAST
Busyness and Sabbath
July 9th, 2020
Nehemiah 13:15-22
We are so busy. Between work and groceries and laundry and our kids’ homework and extra-curricular activities, we hardly ever rest. Many of us think this is okay because we have a two-week vacation planned during the summer. God, I think, intended for us to rest more than just 14 days on the beach.
Observing the Sabbath isn’t just a random command that seems irrelevant today. This command is rooted in the very story of the people of God. When they were enslaved in Egypt, the Pharaoh made them work . . . constantly. They began to value themselves on what they could produce.
We fall into the same trap today. We are constantly being judged on what we can produce, whether it is good grades or meeting the production goals at work. And just like the people of God in Egypt, we begin to base our value on what we can accomplish. The problem is that our value is not in what we can do; rather, our value is in being the people of God.
So today rest. Our identity is not in what we are able to accomplish; our identity is in God.
Author: Georgia Patton
