Didasko: A Sabbath Day

Imagine if we added an eighth day to every week, where there is no work or school... only free time and rest. How would this impact the other days of your week?

In real life, changing the calendar this way would have too many consequences... but the Bible suggests a way of getting the most out of rest, which provides virtually the same benefits. This ancient practice - to guard a special resting day or "keep the Sabbath holy" - is making a lifestyle choice more rewarding than any productivity time you sacrifice.

For Christians, this should be a distinguishing feature of our faith. While Islam and Mormonism promote a tireless tunnel vision toward good works, Jesus offers grace (Hebrews 4)-- inviting us to abide, and to produce fruit out of this surrender. Intellectually, we understand this, but guarding a Sabbath day (not out of legalism, but from joyful choice) should help us to walk in it. Why would we assume our theoretical assent to this doctrine is enough, when the pattern of our week and values of our culture all emphasize our worth through effort?

For us Americans, members of the most overworked country in the world by measure of tracked and untracked hours, we could stand to listen, consider why the rest of the world seems "lazy" in our eyes, and reform our own time spent in relaxation.

Also, as college students, we are under constant threat of our free time being invaded with homework. For as much as we laugh at our own procrastination, it's questionable whether our carefree moments on social media or YouTube are actually rejuvenating us... when we are nagged on and off with guilt and stress that whole time.

From my own experience, I've tested this advice by guarding a weekly time of rest (usually between Friday evening and Saturday morning). I've found this discipline to be immensely enjoyable and a blessing for the following days of work.

If you choose to protect a special day off, the specific activities you do will vary personally, but here is how I've learned to make the most of your rest-- make it liberating, and make it life-giving.


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Make it liberating... because too often, the idea of Sabbath is enforced in a way that totally defeats its original purpose.

In Jesus' day, the religious leaders had added an exhaustive list of rules... even for how many steps you're allowed to take on this day. They found Jesus offensive, because He freely helped people during the Sabbath, and insisted that it was made to serve humanity.

In fact, the Sabbath was given to former slaves of Egypt. It gave them six days to keep doing hard work, but a seventh one to remember their human dignity.

For us too, taking a day off can liberate us from the burden and pressure of our work-driven world. It isn't just a thing we have to do because "the Bible says." It's a chance to remember that regardless of how much you're working, you have profound worth as a unique person. No one owns you, and even when you kick back for a 24 hour period, the world will keep spinning the same.

Make it life-giving... because this is an uninterrupted opportunity to recharge your soul.

Again, you could get confused here, because I'm not talking (strictly) about going to church or reading the Bible. I'm telling you to do what brings you joy-- play, relax, create, explore, and share your time with people you love most.

When you dedicate your entire day to what really matters to you, you receive something that doesn't disappear like money does, and you're even energized to take on the next six days with excellence.

I really believe that my peers, though they are already hard workers and quick questioners of the American dream, can take this counter-cultural challenge seriously: to retake our identity so that our successes and security flow out of that... and pursue with our time what reminds us we are truly alive.

I hope my readers/listeners try this Sabbath experience within a week of now, and that many of us will hang out one weekend after we make it through projects and finals, to celebrate and share how well it worked out.