A Hurried Existence, Part 5

"...they'd been moving much too fast & it was time to stop & let their souls catch up with their bodies" (McDonald).

Does this sound like you? Is your private world in disarray? I've often thought, "I am living at such a pace that I cannot even distinguish what I really enjoy from that which just seems necessary for achievement or expansion." Until recently I didn't realize how much I was "gaining the whole world but forfeiting my soul." John Wesley said, "Every man is a fool who gets rich on earth but not in heaven." In order for our souls to be fit, they must be nurtured, namely by the Lord himself.

I would like to offer 3 spiritual disciplines helpful in making Sabbath real in the midst of life: (Willard, The Great Omission)

1. Solitude: time alone, out of contact with others, indoor or outdoor, doing no work; "you don't have to Do to Be."
2. Silence: quietness, freedom from sounds except natural ones; also means not talking.
3. Fasting: abstinence from our ordinary food to some significant degree & for some significant length of time.
   

If you are going to incorporate Sabbath principles into your life, you will have to be counter-cultural, even counter to most evangelical church cultures. Sabbath rest is a gift of grace that few of us ever accept. Realize there is nothing you can do to earn God's love & there is no labor you can work that can produce eternal good unless the Holy Spirit causes growth. Maybe a few months from now you will be in a routine of weekly rest & be able to say that your soul has finally caught up with your body. You will be renewed & you will trust the Lord in a new way. You may conclude that so much energy was spent in hurry & stress, worry & fear, when the Sabbath was there all along, waiting to be received. Be blessed for His glory!

"God be gracious to us & bless us, & cause His face to shine upon us--
Selah.
That Your way may be know on the earth, your salvation among all nations.
Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You.
Let the nations be glad & sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness & guide the nations on the earth.
Selah.
Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You.
The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us.
God blesses us,
That all the ends of the earth may fear Him." Psalm 67

For those of you who would like to explore the topic of Sabbath further, I would like to offer a list of resources that may be useful:

• The Sabbath, Abraham Heschel
• Sabbath Keeping, Lynne M. Baab
• Mudhouse Sabbath, Laura Winner
• Sabbath, Wayne Muller
• Receiving the Day, Dorothy Bass
• Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, Marva Dawn
• The Sabbath: Entering God's Rest, Barry Rubin & Steffi Rubin