I Began to Honor the Sabbath and Here’s How It Changed My Life

I have become intentional about my weekly Sabbath for the last few years. It has been radical for not only my rest but also for my relationship with God. Here are six reasons why honoring the Sabbath each week has changed my life for the better. 

I trusted God more.

It takes trust to have a full day off (i.e., 24 hours). At first, it was incredibly difficult. What if someone needs something and I am unreachable? I also really enjoy being productive. I would fight against myself the first year while resting on the Sabbath. I wanted to maintain my house and get things done. It’s very human to feel that way. It’s also rewarded in our culture. But you know what? There are literally six other days I could take care of those things.

I realized I wasn’t essential.

Raise your hand if you have over-functioning tendencies. I often do the work of others. Maybe it’s the Enneagram 2 (also known as “the Helper”) in me or my perfectionist standards, but letting go of having to do it all for things to work out was incredibly freeing. God doesn’t need me to get the job done. He has plenty of other ways to get it done. 

I lived less tethered to the world’s standards.

Our world rewards overwork and overcommitment. Most of us are afraid to say “no.” Here’s a big secret to a restful Sabbath: You have to say “no.” And quite often. It’s a day of literally saying “no” to anything that doesn’t produce rest in us. I love the framework that John Mark Comer taught during one of his sermons. It’s honestly how I tailor my Sabbath each week. Here are the four elements: stop, rest, worship and delight. If an activity doesn’t fit into any of those categories, it isn’t something that happens on my Sabbath.  

My other six days radically shifted.

Walter Brueggemann said it best, “People who keep Sabbath live all seven days differently.” You can really see that when you truly rest on the Sabbath. It helps you to understand your priorities and gives you clarity on what is important to you. It teaches you the value of work and its rightful place. I would have fallen into that workaholic category prior to taking my Sabbaths seriously. But because of that, there also wasn’t a lot of rest in my life. For Sabbath to work and allow for deep rest, it needs to be rooted in planning well. You can’t take a day off without structuring your week to support that. I even do a weekly prep day. It’s the day before Sabbath where I check all my emails, do my errands and chores, prep any food and loosely plan out how I want to spend my Sabbath. It honestly makes or breaks my Sabbaths. If I don’t prioritize that prep day, my Sabbath can definitely feel off.

I experienced free time and joy often and abundantly.

 I use the concept of pleasure stacking on my Sabbath. What is pleasure stacking, you may ask? It means doing things that cause you pleasure back-to-back. If I have planned to have a full day of enjoyment, you know what happens during the week? You look for those places that cause you deep joy, delight or just plain fun. It is amazing how lovely the world becomes when you take a day to slow down and do what fills you up.

 I actually felt rested and renewed.

The day of Sabbath is personal for each person who practices it. What causes me rest might not cause you deep rest. My Sabbaths are often a balance. As an extroverted introvert, I need both alone time and time with people to fill my tank. So, I make room for extra time in solitude with God, sleeping/naps, reading and engaging in artistic activities such as coloring or painting. But I also make space for deep community through church, going on coffee dates, catching up with friends on walks and video chatting with my family. And guess what? Once you find your groove in the balance of activities, that’s when you experience deep rest. And probably for the first time ever. 

After the year we’ve had, don’t we all need to be refreshed? Don’t we all need Jesus’s yoke upon us that allows us to find rest for our souls? Perhaps resting on the Sabbath is the way forward for you.