Guilt-free Rest!

I am a bit of a workaholic.  Some might say, ‘more than a bit.’

If I think I can squeeze something else onto my plate, I will find a way to do it.  It is just the way I am wired.  Part of the issue is that I love to work, part is that so many others do not.  If I see something that needs to be done, I do it.  Etc.

Whether this is good or bad is not my point.  What being a workaholic does lead to is exhaustion and that is not our Creator’s desire for any of His creation.  He desires that we be creative and accomplish much, but He also desires commands that we rest.

Most workaholics have trouble resting.  Like me, they feel guilty if they are sitting still.  I mean, isn’t there something that needs to be done??

Well, this morning, I woke with the phrase, ‘guilt-free rest’ playing on my mind.  I was sleeping late as I do most Saturdays and experiencing the very reason why I LOVE this day, the Sabbath, so much.  It is the day Yehovah commanded that I/we rest and in the obeying (doing) of the command I am “working” at resting.

When we first made the transition from Sunday to Sabbath some five years ago, the transition was a challenge and it took a couple months for me and my family to truly learn to rest and be guilt-free in the doing of nothing.  As a Sunday-keeping pastor who worked a job and had a micro-farm, rest time was almost non-existent.  Suddenly shifting gears to a Sabbath rest wherein we had no fellowship to attend and wanted to obey the King by not doing any work was a crazy hard transition.  By early afternoon I would be pacing.

It really took a little while for me to settle down and learn to enjoy that which my Father had commanded for my benefit, but I eventually came to a place where I can be a workaholic six days of the week and be guilt-free in complete rest on the seventh day of the week, exactly as Scripture commands.

Today, I look forward all week to Erev Shabbat, that time at sundown on Friday when the Sabbath begins.  I know that I can rest guilt-free.  If something doesn’t get done, its not on me.  Unless I have an ‘ox in the ditch,’ I don’t even think about the things that need to be done.  It is truly a mental and physical rest that refreshes!  And, we definitely have a Creator Who cares for us!

If this is bondage, please, throw away the key!!  😉

Shabbat shalom!

Aside:  Our normal Shabbats are pretty laid back with fellowship or home group most Sabbaths beginning around 2 pm with oneg, (a potluck meal) served afterwards.  We gather with other like-minded believers in this area to fellowship, worship and study the Torah as well as other Scripture.  Occasionally, there are weeks that the families in our area will agree to all stay home and rest in place.  We make that a family worship time and study time.

Friday evenings we share a short liturgy and a meal to bring in the Shabbat, and typically sleep late the next morning.

2nd aside:  The case for the Seventh-day Sabbath, a concept I did not understand as a Christian pastor, is demonstrably watertight.  I even offered a $10,000 reward with no takers.  Here are a few article to consider if you genuinely want to know what Scripture says instead of the theological twisting of Scripture normally exhibited by Christendom:

• The Sabbath, Scripturally Speaking
• ‘First day of the week’… Acts 20:7
• Can God ‘unsanctify’ the ‘sanctified?’
• “all flesh”… (Does that include errant theologians?)
• Christians, please help me understand….

Author: Pete Rambo

Details in 'About' page @ natsab.wordpress.com Basically, husband of one, father of four. Pastor x 11 years, former business and military background. Micro-farmer. Messianic believer in Yeshua haMashiach! View all posts by Pete Rambo