Holiday

I won't be blogging on Friday. I won't be here. Not in the "He is not here; he is risen" kind of way, but the "eight months later, he decided to take a day off" sort of way. Yes, my brothers and sisters, I finally told myself to take a couple of vacation days. As a not-so-closeted workaholic, it was hard to make myself do it, but I need to.

Everyone needs rest. A constant, uninterrupted pace is simply unsustainable long-term. We weren't designed for continuous labor. God Himself set the standard for this when He rested the seventh day of creation (Genesis 2:2-3). I think we can all agree God doesn't exactly need beauty sleep, and so that day of rest was to establish our own Sabbath, the cessation from work commanded in the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11). Of course, by the time of Christ, the Sabbath had been blown way out of proportion; it became a lot of work just to keep track of obeying the rules to make sure you weren't doing any work! For this reason, Jesus set them all straight: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27).

God gives us rest as a gift, as a way to grow closer to Him and temporarily leave behind the cares of the world. The Sabbath rest may look different for each of us; we all find different things enjoyable and restful. The important thing, though, is that we relax, unwind, slow down, and take a day for what truly matters in life: God, family, and friends.

If you haven't had a day off for a while, I encourage you to take one. If life seems like it's going too hard and too fast, deliberately slow it down. Go on vacation.

I'll see you Sunday!