Our pastor preached on the value of Sabbath rest yesterday. He reminded us of the continual rest we can experience in our hearts because of Jesus and the outward rest that can be beneficial to practice on Sunday. He reminded us how Jesus obliterated the way the Pharisees sought to enslave themselves to a law of "not working" and reminded them that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. This word came like water to the soul. I think it put our hearts on an adjusted course. I can push through the week feeling like my to-do lists never get completed, that I'm behind, that I'm failing my family. I can forget to rest in my Savior's complete, gracious, precious work on the cross. I can lack self-control and see Sunday as another day to try complete my tasks and find rest in "getting it all done." That doesn't tend to work well....
So yesterday, we slowed down. We sat on the porch. For a long time. We chatted. We didn't clean up the kitchen. We didn't finish the painting projects. We went for a walk along the river with beautiful friends and a beautiful sunset.
But we have not yet reached the goal.
We still struggle to rest from our labors; we still must “strive to enter that rest”
Consequently the weekly nature of the Sabbath continues as a reminder that
we are not yet home with the Father.
And since this rest is ours only through union with Christ in His death and resurrection,
our struggles to refuse the old life and enjoy the new continue....
Hebrews teaches us that eternal glory is a Sabbath rest.
Every day, all day, will be “Father’s Day”!
Thus if here and now we learn the pleasures of a God-given weekly rhythm, it will no longer seem strange to us that the eternal glory can be described as a prolonged Sabbath!
-Sinclair Ferguson
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