Genesis 2:1-3 "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."

There was a time most town businesses closed on Wednesday afternoons. Nobody worked on Sunday. After six pm in most country towns and small cities you couldn’t even buy gas. Sunday was a quiet day of church, lunch with the grandparents, baseball on the radio and naps. It really wasn’t a bad way to live.

Contrary to popular belief Sabbath doesn’t mean the seventh day of the week but rather "to rest from labor". It stands to reason that if God needed to rest after six days of labor that we humans would need to rest. Instead of resting we run ourselves ragged seven days a week and wonder why we get frustrated with our lives and have to contend with bouts of depression. Without rest things tend to break.

There is also the command to keep the Sabbath holy. As yet, holy has not been translated pleasure although the worship of God is pleasurable. Work, on the other hand, is pleasurable if not taken to extremes. We do know that not taking time to rest is taking work to an extreme that will lead to frustrations and depression.

Be still and spend time with God. Life lived chasing after pleasure will eventually rob you of your health and possibly your brain. Where the idea that "life is supposed be all about fun" came from nobody knows. It must have been developed by the people who create the ads for TV. What we do know is that most of the stuff we do and call pleasure wears us out. Going to work on Monday morning takes every ounce of strength in the old body.

My grandson hates to go to sleep whether it is for a nap or to bed at night. He fights sleep with a passion. There are people, maybe you are one of them, who fights rest. Going to a church to worship is the last thing some folks want to do because it takes them away from "fun" things. And then there are those who make the excuse, "I need to sleep in" but if that person hadn’t stayed out until two in the morning….

Sabbath – to rest from labor. Sabbath – keep it HOLY unto the Lord. Which means more to you, your pleasure or your God?

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