Many countries around the world have labor laws that mandate employers give a certain number of paid time-off days per year to workers. Finland, France and the UAB actually require 30 days of paid vacation. The United Kingdom, Japan, Italy and Ireland all require 20 days of paid vacation. In the United States and China, none is required. Most employers do offer paid vacation time, but they are not required to. Thus, the average American worker takes 13 vacation days annually, compared to 25 in Japan, 28 in the United Kingdom, 35 in Germany, and 42 in Italy. (NationMaster)
Said a different way, Americans work 137 more hours a year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers.
Our first reaction to this is likely one of pride. "Of course we work harder . . . that is why we get so much done . . . that is how we achieve the 'American Dream.' We often take pride in our busyness and obsessive work. Our favorite response to, "how are you?" is "really busy." The response helps us to feel important and significant.
As usual, God's Word conveys different priorities than we have. In God's original Top Ten (different from this one), God lists a whole host of ills that we would definitely agree with: murder, stealing, adultery, coveting your neighbors spouse or stuff and so on. But there is something on that list that we prefer to ignore. In fact, it seems wholly un-American today. In most folks' numbering system, God's commandment #4 says, "the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work." (Exodus 20:10) "Sabbath" comes from a Hebrew word meaning "to cease." To God, it seems, being a workaholic and failing "to cease" from work is just as bad as being a murderer or adulterer.
God created Adam and Eve and gave them a job, which was to care for and manage the rest of God's creation. But before their first day of work, they were given a day off. They were told to rest. They rested into their work. Today we are almost embarrassed to say that we took a nap or sat on the couch with our family. But to God rest is not simply something we experience when we do not have enough to do, it is something we pursue to live rightly. Mike Breen and Walt Kallestad say rest helps us to be human "beings" as opposed to human "doings."
For God, rest is not to be our ending point, but our starting point. Rest fills us up and reorients us. Let us resist our "busy" desires to accumulate massive amounts of kindling, so that we can be people that efficiently produce eternal treasures. (Matthew 6:19-21) Rest is not only healthy, but it is commanded of us.
Murdering, Stealing and Not Resting
Thanks Pastor Dan. You have just entered into an argument that I have been having with Mark Cordes for years! My take on the Sabbath is that Jesus is our Sabbath and Him in whom we have rest. We no longer have to work for goodness; everyday God worked in Genesis 1, and brought forth something good. This is a metaphor for what we can't do perfectly, every time--and that is work and come up with perfection. We don't have to work for our good anymore because Jesus cleared up the sin thing. If we are taking time to rest in Christ, it is something happening everyday, all the time. I am resting in Christ and his blessings everyday in quiet time and for the rest of the day as well. That rest is everyday all through eternity. I believe the Sabbath can be seen as a metaphor for the rest we have in Christ. "So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality." Colossians 2:16-17 Believers should focus on faith alone. It is not where we worship, when we worship or how we worship but that we worship Christ.
The article said, "To God, it seems, being a workaholic and failing "to cease" from work is just as bad as being a murderer or adulterer." Being creatures of the New Testament through Christ, I think, means that being a workaholic is failing to see that Christ has done the work. The work we should be doing is seeking Christ with everything we have. And if we aren't seeking Christ, then we are just as bad as . . . fill in the blank. We should work less for the food on our tables, to be sure, and give that devotion and drive to the Lord. Failing to cease from work means you haven't accepted Jesus' one time, all encompassing, payment for sin.
Business keeps us from God. If we can manage to stay in the past or the future in our minds, we can avoid thinking of God completely. As Brennan Manning says, and I paraphrase, we can only meet God in the Now Here (nowhere). If we can't get ourselves in the present moment, how can we hear God? Our head is to muddled. Business fills in the gap in our mind that is essential for the Lord to be heard, the way I see it.
Mark argues that the Holy Sabbath is a commandment. But isn't that part of the law from which we were set free through Christ? I am not saying don't worship. Far from it. I am saying that our attitude about who Christ is and what worship is should be one of 24/7, not Sunday only. We no longer sin if we miss church Sunday, in my opinion. Christ is with me 24/7 and is my rest. It is a heart thing. If I am working all the time, I have to ask myself, why? Is there a season when I have to work overtime because something happened that caused financial stress or do I work all the time to avoid my family, friends and most of all God? The sin comes from avoiding God and thinking that business is the answer to all that ails, and so everything in your life begins to degrade: your relationships, your health, your passion.
The article said, " Rest is not only healthy, but it is commanded of us." Yes, resting in Christ and the promise that our sins are paid for is definitely commanded of us.
I hope you, Dana and the girls are experiencing abundant blessings.
Diane
Post new comment