Six Days of Work

"God rested on the seventh day." I've heard this a thousand times from ministers talking about our need to find times of regular rest. In fact, I've said it more than a few times when talking to students about their busy lives. Sabbath rest is one area we all struggle with, no matter your age or profession.

Looking at the creation account in Genesis confirms that God did, in fact, rest on the seventh day. In doing so, he modeled the necessity of rest for all creation. This need for Sabbath is not the only thing God instituted during creation, He also showed us the need to work effectively and complete our tasks on time. God had (and still has) excellent time management skills—he's never late in acting on anything.

Read the account of the seventh day of creation again. "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done" (Gen. 2.2-3). A few words stick out from this account: finished, work, had done. "By the seventh day" means that God didn't need the seventh day to work on creation—it was already complete. He finished creation on time (you could say he met his deadline) and was able to rest without thinking about it.

Sabbath rest is a two-part deal: taking a break from your work and working efficiently the other days. We all know the part about taking a break from working, but the working efficiently part can sometimes elude us. You cannot rest when you still have work to do. So maybe the secret to Sabbath rest is being good at your job. Think about the last time you worked on your day off. Why did you feel a need to work? Were you behind on a project or wanting to work ahead? Now think about the workdays leading up to your day off. What kind of work habits did you exhibit?

Some of your might be saying, "But a youth minister's job is never done!" and you would be correct. It is likely that your task list will never be completely clear. Nevertheless, that's not a valid excuse in light of God's example. After the sixth day of work was God completely done with creation? No. He was only just beginning. The rest of history is an account of God's interaction with his creation and his work will continue until the end of time.

The seventh day could have been spent thinking about how to deal with Satan in the Garden or planning designs for the ark. If we were God, we probably would have spent the day brainstorming cool introductions (like the burning bush) or coming up with the calendar for the next millennium. There was so much more God needed to do, but resting after his work of creation was complete was more important. Is Sabbath rest that important to you?

You'll always have more work to do, but it doesn't have to be done in lieu of rest. In fact, your refusal to rest every week could be seen as a refusal to give 100% to your work when you're supposed to. If you've noticed your commitment to working hard slipping, you don't have to continue the pattern. Be determined this week to work efficiently for six days and enjoy a full day of rest—just the way God did.