The Sabbath Crashpad: How to receive the most from your Sabbath rest

This week, an episode of InDepth covers the topic of Sabbath rejuvenation. An editorial in Adventist News Network (ANN) by Nicole Dominguez summarizes the key points and tells us how we can get the most out of Sabbath without wearing ourselves down. According to Dominguez, using Sabbath as a planned ‘vacation’ day is a common theme among Adventists. In her editorial, she says, “Of course we know that the Sabbath is more than just some time off work, but all of us have slipped into the belief that Sabbath is a weekly crash pad for us to fall into after a hectic week.”

Dominguez goes on to explain how many of us collapse on Saturday after a week of physical exhaustion and spiritual starvation. After six days of juggling school, work, friends and family, it's hard to truly enjoy the one day you have to actually relax. More than that, Sabbath can be a time when we try to make up for the spirituality we lacked the rest of the week, overcompensating with prayer, Bible study and worship songs. 

Dominguez says, “By crawling to the Sabbath after a spiritual drought, we dump gallon upon gallon of ‘holy stuff’ into one day causing a flash flood that never really waters the root of our need.” This cycle of exhaustion is one that has been noticed recently by people outside Christianity. Famous athletes, for example, confess to serious burnouts at increasingly young ages. So what's the harm in using Sabbath to crash? Dominguez explains, “This is something that we as sinners all slip into unconsciously, we have all been guilty of wanting the Sabbath to abide by our schedule, our time, our desires. In making Sabbath what we want it to be, we remove the holiness that makes it so powerful.”

So how do we break this powerful cycle? Nicole suggests an analogy. “What if, rather than reaching the Sabbath with an empty cup and the expectation for it to be filled, we came already overflowing with joyful worship?” This short statement is summed up the secret to a lifetime relationship with the creator. Rather than wearing ourselves out, we should instead spend all week nurturing our spirituality and practicing moderation in all things.

“Living for Christ is meant to influence every aspect of our life,” writes Dominguez, “however it is something we must balance with the chores and responsibilities of everyday life. The Sabbath is the day set aside to fully live in worship, where the things of this world can become secondary to the joy of immersing in God and his church.” As Hasel states, “It's not vacation time, it's time for God, and time for my neighbor, time for the human beings that He created and so the Sabbath really gives us an opportunity to reconnect to the source of life.”

Sabbath: How Should You See It As A Seventh-day Adventist? | Adventist News Network

By Sophia Jaquez