I look at our world and work ethic today and see a very different world than I grew up with and frankly one that is much different than what was created by God. I know what you may be thinking, we do work Monday through Friday and then I deserve my weekends to take care of my personal things.
“8Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,” – Exodus 20:8-9 (ESV)
Today, just how much do we hold to the above verses. We “work” five days a week and then we have the weekends to recover and prepare for the next five days. But really, how much of those five days are we working, and are we really taking the weekend to “recover and prepare” for the next five days. I don’t believe we are in good faith.
You see, it is our culture to evolve and work efficiently and effectively. Where it is important, I believe that we also are not working in good faith. We are evolving not to get more work done, we are working to get more rest and relaxation. The faster we get “our” work done, the more time we have to do the things we enjoy doing.
Now, don’t get me wrong, we should be looking at opportunities to find enjoyment in our lives. We should, when the time is presented to us, take full advantage of that time. But here is the thing, what are we NOT doing so that we can have more time.
God intended for us to labor and do work. And He made the provision that we should then rest. Look again at verse nine above, “Six days you shall labor, and do all you work”. How much time is in our days. Just looking at the daylight times for today where I am in Boerne, Texas, there are approximately 10 hours and 52 minutes. That is the time we should be spending in work each day for six days. And then we rest.
I know that we are not really spending that much time each day labor. We have this idea of 40 hours per week and there is even a push for less than that. How much more work or even less turmoil would there be if/when we are working more and playing less? There is really something to God’s design for our labor and rest.
Laboring is doing the work that is needed to provide for ourselves and others. Whether that is in our job or in our homes or in our communities. In our lives that could look like eight hours each day working to earn and provide for our household and then the other 2-3 each day working to provide for others. And then on the 7th day “WE” rest.
“10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” – Exodus 20:10-11 (ESV)
God’s design was for our work and rest as He did. God did not work efficiently and effectively to get more time to rest and relax. He worked to get more done in that time. And then, when the work was done, He rested. We need to get back to a place where we work to get more done and then take the appropriate time to rest. We have over 10 hours per day to labor and we should be using that time to get work done. And then we have over 10 hours on one day to rest, just as God did.
How are you laboring in your day? Are you working efficiently and effectively to get more time to rest and relax? What if you were to labor as God intended (six days) and rest as He intended (one day) as well?
