Sabbath

One thing I have not done well - ever - is obeying the commandment to take a Sabbath.

That's right; the commandment. We forget that one - it's easy to remember the biggies; don't kill, don't steal, don't covet - but when it comes to remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy we seem to fling it aside as a "lesser" commandment.

God takes it very, very seriously. Jeremiah 17 declares God will "kindle a fire" against those who do not keep the Sabbath.

What is the Sabbath? Listen to Matt Chandler explain it in a recent sermon at the Village Church.

We live an age where our very existence can become burdensome because of the sheer amount of information, responsibilities, and obligations being thrown at us. Sabbath is the day of the week when you totally unplug; when we take time to purposefully enjoy God, his creation, and his people. This means you can either seek solitude or community; or both.

Today I chose solitude. Feeling the need to spend some time in thought, prayer, and Scripture, I jumped on the 1:30 ferry from Seattle to Bremerton with my Bible, my journal, and a couple of other books I'm reading right now. I spent the trip to Bremerton reading Donald Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, which is a highly practical look at the things we as Christians need to be practicing in order to grow in Christlikeness and godliness (prayer, Bible intake/study, service, evangelism, etc). I would highly recommend it to any of you looking to grow closer to Jesus and know him better. I just finished the first 3 chapters on Bible study and found them really helpful.

Once I got to Bremerton, I parked it at Starbucks for a good hour or so and dug into Genesis. I never thought I would actually enjoy reading Genesis like some kind of novel; but I did. And it's amazing what you pull out of Scripture if you take the time to make some notes to yourself in a notebook while you read. Then I jumped on the 4:15 ferry back to Seattle and continued to read Genesis the whole way. It was incredibly refreshing, relaxing, and wonderful to shut off my phone for the afternoon and just be. It's 8:30pm on Sunday right now and I feel totally relaxed and ready to dive into Monday morning at work. Refreshed.

One of the things on my life plan for 2010 is to rein in the use of my free time a bit; this means using my free time more productively rather than just frittering it away with idle pursuits (Facebook, Twitter, laying around watching movies). It means discipline for taking a Sabbath. It means reining in technology in my life a bit and breaking some of the control it has on me (I realized today that I never, ever turn my cell phone off. That's not good).

What about you? How will you Sabbath in 2010?