Illustration from the first engraved Christian Bible in Russian (1696), depicting God reposing on Sabbath.

“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. “ -Genesis 2:2

It takes seven God days to get a time of rest. When we work six, we need to pause. Day seven is a blessing.

All seven are blessings.

It's good to work. There is no rest without work. But work cannot continue without rest.

Is fulfillment. It is pause. It is the time for evaluation, assessment, renewal, re-commitment, and refreshment.

It is the blessing of a job well done. It is a cause for celebration.

It is a time of laughter, extra naps, enjoyable activity, and for being around people we love. It is also a time for worship, seeking God, praying, and being fed on the Word of God.

It is our day of reflection and an opportunity to receive God's reflection on what we have offered to him in the week past. We, who are made in that reflection of God, follow the pattern God established. When God rested. God has blessed us with the mandate and the gift of rest.

To say that we need we need no rest is to place ourselves above God. How audacious of us to think that we are better than the one who made us and who rested from His labors.

Let us take our rest and the celebrate rest for rest is good and work is good and God is good.

Let also remember that every Sabbath moment we have on earth points to an eternal Sabbath day of ultimate rest and fulfillment in Christ.

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." – Hebrews 4:9-11