180 Degrees: The Fourth Commandment

Rest assured…

Math Joke: Parallel lines have so much in common, but it’s a shame they’ll never meet.

I’ll be honest, this isn’t a post I wanted to write. However, the subject is too important to skim over. The hard truth is that we’re all guilty of breaking the Fourth Commandment.

God told us to “Remember the Sabbath day [Sunday] and keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11). I’m here to confess letting our busybody culture get the best of me. God gives us six days each week to work, and one day to rest and experience His presence. Human nature goes against this. We make our lives so busy, hurried, and “important” that we don’t have time for rest.

It’s crazy that we’re so busy spending five hours a day on our phones that we can’t take a Sunday afternoon to rest and know God. Human nature is prone to laziness and busyness, but never rest. To live out the Fourth Commandment, we must shift our mindset…

180 Degrees

In Jesus’ time, the Sabbath laws were way at one end of the pendulum. You couldn’t do any work. Modern society has adopted the opposite mindset. I propose something in the middle – where we respect God’s commandments without being legalistic. Because if we’re okay bending one commandment (#4), we’ll soon bend the rest.

A note on ‘Sabbath’: In Jewish culture, ‘Shabbat/Sabbath’ is commanded by God, and celebrated from Friday evening to Saturday evening. During the rise of the early church, Christians shifted from Saturday rest to Sunday rest. The day we celebrate Sabbath isn’t something we should divide over; either way, God’s heart is that we take one of seven days to rest.

In 1985 the Canadian government repealed the Lord’s Day Act , thus allowing stores and businesses to remain open on Sunday. Since then, we’ve slid down the slippery slope of self > spiritually and cash > commandments.

Let’s (briefly) ignore what the government says about Sunday, and look at what God says…

God Commands Rest

Rest is a command, not a suggestion. If you recall, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Recommendations. That might be a hard pill to swallow. God commands daily rest (sleep, devotions, breaks) and weekly rest (Sabbath/Sunday). I know there are exceptions – pastors, church workers, and missionaries – but God still commands rest for everyone.

Often we replace resting in God’s presence with resting via phones, televisions, or video games. That’s not the point of Sabbath. It’s a “Day of rest, dedicated to the Lord your God.”

If you’re someone (like me) who hates idleness and laziness, that’s not what Sabbath is. God says don’t do ordinary work, but He commands us to do the most important work: Growing in our love for Him. Here are a few ways you can do that…

• Go to church (highly recommend).
• Volunteer at church or in the community.
• Invite people over to experience fellowship.
• Spend time in nature praising God for His creation.
• Send friends or family encouraging messages.
• Read the Bible or another Christian book.
• Pray (I’m putting this at the end to trigger the recency effect).

To be clear, God doesn’t command laziness on the Sabbath. He does command us to set aside our usual work so we may grow our love for Him. Because if there’s one thing God hates more than laziness, it’s disobedience.

Rest Is Necessary

Have you ever wondered why a week is 7 days long? We know the term ‘week’ first originated in Genesis 1-2, but why 7 days? Why didn’t God create the world in 3 days, or 9? Turns out 7 was the perfect number.

During the French Revolution of 1789, the new government created a calendar with 10-day weeks. Their plan was to increase productivity by having citizens work for 9 days, and rest for one day. Major fail. Somehow God knows that a 6-1 ratio is the perfect amount for human productivity. Otherwise our good friend burnout knocks on the door.

I’ve tried to cut back on rest and sleep to get more done during the day. For most people (including myself), this doesn’t work. God gave us rest for a reason. Studies show that you get more done in less time if you’re well-rested. If you want to do God’s work, start by resting – both physically and in His presence. This means phones go down and prayers go up.

Hazard Alert

In his book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer says, “Corrie ten Boom once said that if the devil can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy. There’s truth in that. Both sin and busyness have the exact same effect – they cut off your connection to God, to other people, and even to your own soul.”

Need I say more? Busyness isn’t the problem; what you’re not doing because you’re busy is the issue. We frequently do stuff that doesn’t matter. As Henry David Thoreau said, “It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?”

Our culture is busy doing that which doesn’t matter. We live in a doomscrolling age, after all. I’m not here to convict you, but if the average person were to completely cut doomscrolling for one month, they could read the entire Bible. That’s how much time the average person loses being “busy”.

The problem with our culture isn’t that we’re too busy, it’s that we’re too busy doing things that don’t matter.

Action Steps

I’ll make these quick. Summer is approaching. This is a great time to evaluate what matters and to refine our habits. Please spend time with God. Pray, journal, read the Bible, read Christian books, meet as a small group, whatever it looks like. It’s easy to build a routine during the school year; don’t let it break over summer. Take time to rest. Take time to observe God’s commandments. Take time to root out unnecessary time-wasters from your life.

Here are five action steps to make the Sabbath/rest count and reduce busyness…

1. Fast from Media

“That’s impossible.”
-Luke Skywalker

Guess what, I tried, and it’s not. One afternoon, spur of the moment, I shut wifi off for 24 hours. I could still listen to worship music and receive emergency calls, but I couldn’t message anyone or access the Internet. It was a cool experience.

I’ve realized that we love phones because they give us an illusion of control. They make us the centre of a 6-inch world. As a result, we constantly fear that people will judge us for not immediately seeing their messages or social media posts.

The best part about a phone fast is that you get control back. In a twisted way, you’re no longer dependent on what someone else does. Now you choose when their message gets seen, or when you comment on their post. To be corny, “Instead of being enslaved to ‘dings’, you make the ‘dings’ wait for you.”

2. Read Books

“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”
-Harry S. Truman

You may ask yourself, “What should I do with rest time?” How about…reading a book (such as the Bible)? Books are awesome. Better yet, they make you work to get something from them. You can’t absorb a book like you absorb a movie or reel. Books stretch your brain.

If you want a good first recommendation, read John Mark Comer’s The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. I also highly recommend taking notes.

3. Learn to Say “NO”

“The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.”
-Tony Blair

In a busy culture, saying NO is an act of self-control. In an episode of the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast, pastor Craig said self-control is the ability to say NO to these three things:

• Not giving in to impulse. Before adding XYZ to your life, ask yourself if it’s worth it. Will XYZ help me/others, or will it subtract from time with God, friends, and family? The trick isn’t saying YES just because you can, it’s saying NO because something matters more.
• No to shortcuts. Busyness isn’t an excuse for giving a half-hearted effort in devotions, friendship, marriage, or work. If something is causing compromise, compromise no more!
• No to excuses & blaming. Your schedule is your choice (generally). If you’re too busy, that’s on you – not someone else. As Stephen R. Covey said, “Don’t talk yourself out of a problem you behaved yourself into.”

Learning to say NO to what’s unimportant sets you up to say YES to what’s important.

4. Set Good Habits

“Neurons that fire together wire together.”
-Hebbian theory

The habits and patterns you set now prepare you for the future. If you slip into a busybody lifestyle now, it will only become harder to break free. Set your priorities straight. Put up sandbags before the floodwaters come.

I guarantee that whatever you do now, you’ll do better in the future. In a good way and a not-so-good way. Habits are with you for life (like it or not). You can’t accomplish massive things for God’s Kingdom without addressing busyness and rest.

To accomplish anything, you need good spiritual and physical habits. You need Jesus, purpose, rest, and balance. You need systems and practices that set you up for success. Being overly busy and neglecting God’s command for Sabbath rest isn’t one of them. As James Clear says, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

If you want a great book on this topic, read Atomic Habits.

5. Obey God

“If you love me, obey my commandments.”
-Jesus

I’ll sum this up in one sentence: When God says something, let’s do it. If not, we send the message that we’re more powerful than Him. God’s command is to work, but also to rest. Life’s command is to be busy. For the record, every great leader is productive. Rarely are they busy for the sake of being busy.

However you choose to address this, I highly encourage prayer. Ask God how you can find rest, peace, and a deeper connection with Him. I’ve given a few suggestions that have worked for me – take them or leave them. Sleep on it if you wish, and rest assured (pun intended) that God has your best interests at heart.

As He said in Exodus 34:21 (NLT)…

“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working, even during the seasons of plowing and harvest.”