Have We Forgotten Why We Need a Sabbath?
We have days off, packed schedules, and more convenience than ever. But in a world that rarely slows down, have we lost sight of something important about rest?
I remember a time in my life when I was working two jobs, literally working almost every day. I did that for two years, and after a while, it felt like I was living the same day over and over again. Wash, rinse, and repeat. There was always another shift to work, another responsibility to handle, and another day waiting just around the corner.
What surprised me was that even after that season of my life ended, I realized I was still living much the same way. I might have two days off from work, but there was always something else that needed my attention. The house, errands, family responsibilities, and everything else that comes with everyday life filled those days before I knew it. I had time away from my job, but was I ever really taking time off?
I wonder how many of us can relate to that feeling. We may not be working two jobs, but our schedules are packed, our minds are constantly occupied, and rest often gets pushed aside until everything else is done. Perhaps we need to look beyond our work schedules and ask ourselves whether we have forgotten the importance of setting aside time to truly rest.
Does the Sabbath Still Apply to Christians Today?
The question of whether Christians are still required to keep the Sabbath has been debated for a long time, and there are sincere believers on both sides. Some believe the Sabbath remains a command that Christians should observe, while others believe the requirements of the Old Testament Sabbath do not apply to Christians under the new covenant. Then there are those who observe a day of rest as a biblical principle without believing that Christians are bound to keep the Sabbath in the same way Israel was commanded to.
As I have studied this subject, I have heard arguments for and against Sabbath observance. I am still working through the Scriptures myself, and I am not ready to say that keeping the Sabbath is a requirement for Christians today. But I also don't think we should dismiss the subject without considering what the Bible says about rest and why God established that pattern in the first place.
In Genesis 2:2–3, we read that God rested on the seventh day after completing His work of creation and blessed that day. This is part of the biblical foundation for the Sabbath, and it raises an important question: if rest was part of God's pattern from the beginning, what should that mean for us today?
Here are a few of the reasons Christians differ on this question:
- Those who believe Christians should keep the Sabbath point to the Ten Commandments, God's example in creation, and the importance of setting apart a day for rest and worship. They see the Sabbath as more than a cultural practice, recognizing it as part of God's instructions for His people.
- Those who believe Christians are not required to observe the Sabbath often point to the new covenant, passages such as Colossians 2:16-17 and Romans 14:5-6, and the freedom believers have in Christ. They understand the Sabbath command given to Israel differently from the way Christians are called to live under the new covenant.
- Those who emphasize the principle of rest recognize that the debate over Sabbath observance does not erase our physical need to slow down. They may not believe a particular day is required, but they see wisdom in making room for rest, worship, and time away from the demands of everyday life.
Whatever conclusion we reach about the requirement to keep the Sabbath, I believe the value of rest deserves a closer look. So, rather than trying to settle a debate that Christians have wrestled with for generations, I want to consider something we can all recognize: the benefits of setting aside time to step away from our usual work and responsibilities.
Here are a few reasons I believe we need a Sabbath, or at least a regular time set apart for genuine rest.
We Have Forgotten the Quiet
If you grew up in the United States during a certain time, you may remember the Blue Laws. These were laws that restricted certain activities, particularly Sunday shopping and business operations, often for religious or traditional reasons. They varied from state to state, and while many restrictions have disappeared, some Sunday trading restrictions remain in certain places. You can read more about the history of Blue Laws in the United States.
As a child, I remember the quietness of the day. There was something about it that was different from the rest of the week. It reminds me of getting up very early in the morning, when the world hasn't quite awakened and all you hear are the birds singing or the wind blowing. There was no bustling around, no constant activity, just a sense of peace and quiet that is hard to put into words.
Even as a child, that stillness did something to me. I may not have understood it at the time, but I remember how different it felt when everything seemed to slow down. There was room to breathe, room to notice the world around me, and a kind of quiet that didn't need to be filled with anything else.
Today, it often seems as though every day is the same. Stores are open, traffic keeps moving, notifications keep coming, and there is always something happening somewhere. Even when we aren't working, we can fill our time with errands, screens, chores, and the next thing on our list. The world rarely seems to stop, and sometimes we don't stop either.
A day set apart for rest doesn't have to mean doing absolutely nothing, but what if it gave us the opportunity to step away from the usual demands of life and experience some of that quiet again? Perhaps part of why we need a Sabbath, or a regular day of rest, is that we need more than time away from a job. We need room in our lives for peace, for reflection, and for moments when we aren't rushing toward the next thing.
Our Bodies and Minds Need Rest
There is another reason I believe we need a Sabbath or a regular time set aside for rest. Our bodies and minds were not meant to keep going without enough time to recover. We may be able to push through a busy schedule for a while, but that doesn't mean the lack of rest isn't affecting us.
I know this from personal experience. I worked the night shift for quite a while, and it took a toll on both my body and my mind. Trying to get proper rest while working against the body's natural sleep patterns was not easy.
I noticed that my thinking seemed slower, and sometimes I knew exactly what I wanted to say, but it took longer for the words to come out. It was frustrating, and it showed me just how much a lack of proper rest can affect us.
Even during His ministry, Jesus recognized the need to step away from constant demands. In Mark 6:31, He told His disciples to come apart into a quiet place and rest a while because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have time to eat.
Our minds are especially vulnerable to this constant demand to do more. We are thinking about what needs to be done next, trying to remember everything on our lists, responding to messages, making decisions, and handling one responsibility after another.
Over time, insufficient rest can affect our:
- Concentration and ability to think clearly
- Mood and emotional well-being
- Memory and mental sharpness
Even when we finally sit down, our minds may still be working overtime. This is why I believe rest should be more than something we squeeze in when we have finished everything else.
Sleep is essential, of course, but there is also value in stepping away from our usual responsibilities and giving ourselves permission to slow down.
Perhaps we have become so accustomed to pushing through that we no longer pay attention to what our bodies and minds are telling us. We keep going because there is always something else to do, but the list will never truly end.
When constant demands begin to affect us spiritually as well as physically, it can help to understand the difference between spiritual fatigue and burnout.
Making room for regular rest gives us a chance to recover before constant activity becomes our normal way of living.
Rest Makes Room for God and Community
Another reason I believe we need a Sabbath, or a regular day set aside for rest, is the way it affects our relationships with others and with God. Growing up, Sunday was what many people considered a day of rest, even though the biblical Sabbath runs from Friday evening to Saturday evening. For many families, Sunday was a day to attend church, spend time together, and take a break from the usual workweek.
But even when we have weekends off, what do we often do with that time? We fill it up with the things we couldn't get to during the week. We have grass to cut, property to maintain, errands to run, repairs to make, and meals to prepare. After working all week, we use our time off to catch up on everything else.
Before we know it, the weekend is nearly over, and we are getting ready to start another workweek. Somewhere in all that doing, time with family gets squeezed, opportunities to gather with others become less frequent, and we have little room left to reflect on anything.
When Faith Becomes Another Thing to Do
Even our spiritual practices can become part of that routine. Get up and pray, check. Go to church, check. Cut the grass after church, check. Fix the leaky faucet, check. Cook the big meal, check. Before we know it, we are exhausted, and it is time to get up and do it all again.
There is nothing wrong with praying, attending church, caring for our homes, or preparing meals for our families. These are all worthwhile things. But when everything becomes another task to complete, we can lose sight of the meaning behind what we are doing. We can go through the motions of our faith without giving ourselves time to reflect on God's goodness, consider what He is teaching us, or simply enjoy being in His presence.
If your spiritual life has started to feel draining rather than life-giving, you may also relate to these signs of feeling spiritually drained.
Making Room for Reflection
Reflection gives us room to look back and recognize what God has done. When life slows down, even for a little while, we have an opportunity to remember answered prayers, consider the lessons we have learned, express gratitude, and bring our concerns before Him without feeling rushed to move on to the next thing.
The Importance of Gathering Together
Rest also makes room for community. There is value in gathering with family, fellow believers, and friends without everyone having somewhere else to be. Sharing a meal, talking about life, worshipping together, or simply enjoying one another's company helps build relationships that can easily get pushed aside when our schedules are full.
There is something meaningful about setting aside a common time to come together for a common purpose. It reminds us that life is about more than our individual responsibilities and accomplishments. We are part of families, churches, and communities, and those relationships need our time and attention too.
Rest is not simply about stopping work so we can recover enough to start working again. It can also create space to remember, worship, reconnect, and enjoy the people God has placed in our lives.
Perhaps this is another part of what we have forgotten. When every day becomes a list of things to accomplish, we can miss some of the very things that make life meaningful.
Have We Forgotten the Gift of Rest?
It is amazing how, in what seems like a relatively short time, our view of the Sabbath and rest has changed. What was once a day when much of the world slowed down has increasingly been replaced by commercialism, convenience, and the expectation that everything should be available whenever we want it. We don't want to be inconvenienced, and we like having the freedom to do what we want, when we want. Somewhere along the way, perhaps we have stopped seeing rest as a gift and started seeing it as an inconvenience.
I understand this personally because I still wrestle with these things myself. I like knowing that if I forget something or need something, I can run to the store and get it. If I think of something I want to do, I like having the freedom to do it whenever it suits me. There is nothing unusual about wanting that convenience. But I am beginning to see that always having the option to do more doesn't necessarily mean doing more is good for me.
When every day is an opportunity to shop, work, run errands, finish projects, and keep ourselves occupied, we can lose the natural pause that allows us to step back from our routines. We may not notice the effects immediately, but constant activity can leave us physically tired, mentally overwhelmed, and with less time for the relationships and spiritual reflection that matter.
"And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath."
Mark 2:27 (KJV)
I am not suggesting that every Christian must observe the Sabbath in exactly the same way, and I am still studying what Scripture teaches about that responsibility. But I do believe we should take a closer look at the value of rest rather than dismissing it as an outdated idea. The Sabbath was part of God's pattern for His people, and the principle of stepping away from our ordinary work gives us something worth considering in a world that rarely seems to slow down.
Perhaps the question isn't simply whether we are keeping the Sabbath. Perhaps we also need to ask ourselves what we have lost by living as though every day must be filled with activity. Have we made convenience so important that we no longer recognize the value of stopping? Have we become so accustomed to doing that we have forgotten how to rest?
I know I don't have all the answers, and I am still learning to recognize when I need to slow down. But I am beginning to see rest differently. Instead of viewing it as time taken away from everything I need or want to do, perhaps I need to see it as time set aside for something equally important.
Maybe we haven't forgotten how to take a day off. Maybe we have forgotten why rest matters in the first place.
And perhaps it is time we started looking at it again, not as an inconvenience, but as a gift worth making room for.
I'd Love to Hear Your Thoughts
Do you think we have lost sight of the importance of setting aside time to rest, or has the way we live simply made it harder to slow down?
What does making time for rest look like in your life, and how do you understand the Sabbath as a Christian?
Share your thoughts in the comments. I'd love to hear your perspective.
