Posts Tagged ‘Sabbath Day’
Posted on September 28, 2009 - by kelly
Time Off + Reflection = More Productivity
I recently had the opportunity to “retreat” with other churches in the Northeast involved with church planting through the Orchard Group. This was an amazing time of sharing, team building, reflection, and reminders of why it is I do the job I do.
During this 2 day experience I was prompted to reflect on my obedience to one of God’s simple commands: Deuteronomy 5:12, “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you.” Most people look to Sundays as their Sabbath, but working for a church, that can not be the case for me. At CCV, we as a staff try to take Friday as our day off, but it is so easy to log onto the computer, make a few phone calls, run up to check on just one thing, meet someone for lunch; and before you know it, the day has slipped by and a few minutes has turned into a couple of hours and the rest and reflection time of the Sabbath has been stolen.
It’s no wonder that I become less productive during the week. Work that is normally challenging and a joy becomes drudgery. God has given me a gift, a command even, to take time to care for myself, and I have politely said, “No thank you.”
As I was reading this morning, by no accident I came to Acts 3:19, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you – even Jesus.” “Time of refreshing,” who couldn’t use that? If I never take intentional time to repent and allow God to speak to me and fill me back up, I end up doing his work on my power.
Visions of trying to push my car instead of filling it up at the gas station and allowing the gas to power my car comes to mind. It would be a bit ridiculous (and impossible) to push my car everywhere I needed to go, but that’s what I try to do with work. Instead of taking time to fill up, I continue to run on empty. It isn’t healthy for me, my family, my team members, nor the families I’m trying to serve. Instead of getting further, I get further behind.
I am taking this reminder as a challenge to take my Sabbath day seriously, to plan and spend my time wisely so that I can have those refreshing moments with God. It is a privilege to serve on God’s team, I just need to make sure that I invite him to play.
