Rest cannot be earned.
Matt Decker, associate professor of psychology, said that the idea of earning rest is called “rule governed behavior.” People outline their lives in ‘if… then’ statements. ‘If I work hard enough, then I will have time to rest.’
Christians can be tempted to apply this mindset to God. ‘Lord, if I get all my work done, then I will spend time worshiping you.’
The world is constantly telling us to go, go, go. Americans are called toward progress, freedom and equality. But our actions drive us towards fear, captivity and loneliness.
Rule governed behavior and ‘if – then’ statements take away the freedom and liberty that Christ offers us in rest.
Denise Flanders, associate professor of biblical studies, said there are two reasons in the Old Testament to practice the Sabbath. In Genesis, humans rested on the seventh day just as God rested or reigned from his work. In Deuteronomy, God commanded the Isrealites to rest because he was the Lord their God who brought them out of Egypt.
The latter is a celebration of liberation.
“Deuteronomy is connected to freedom from oppression and liberation,” Flanders said. “At the time for Israel, it was Egypt who had enslaved them. For us, it's not Egypt, but it's anything that enslaves us, that steals from us, that pushes us down. You could think of the modern parallels of enslavement or oppression.”
Modern day slavery and oppression still exist today. Not everyone experiences bodily enslavement, but everyone has experienced spiritual captivity. Sin is the worst slave driver of them all.
People can even be enslaved by their phones and their need for distraction, Flanders said.
Decker warned against the distractions the modern world offers, expressing a worry that people are so busy with technology’s immediacy and their busy schedules that they will drown out the still, small voice of God.
“I have to be stiller and smaller to hear a still, small voice, and we as a culture do not like to be quiet,” Decker said. “We do not like to slow down because we are so focused on achievement. And we push, push, push, achievement, achievement, achievement (so) that we actually burn ourselves out, and we're the most stressed and the most unhappy.”
By trying to earn rest, people don’t rest at all.
College and high school students tend to categorize all their responsibilities as the most important. Sleep and self-care fall through the cracks, but there’s only so far a person can push themselves, Decker said.
Erik Hayes, professor of kinesiology, said having a specific day set apart to rest makes the other six days better. For the first half of the week, people have the energy to do their work. For the latter half, they have something to look forward to after their work is finished.
“I want to live that way,” Hayes said. “We talk about life to the full here at Taylor to (the point where) now it's become just an eye roll type thing. But the reason that Taylor made it a tagline in the marketing scheme is because it's actually true. That is what Christ came to give us, and I would want to live that way.”
Everyone needs rest. But it cannot be earned. Flanders said Sabbath is a celebration of freedom from slavery. The deepest form of slavery is sin. It tricks people into thinking they must save themselves. ‘If I just work a little harder, then my sin won’t be as bad and God will forgive me.’
God has already saved his children. He has already welcomed his people into a life of freedom, and we must trust him. Trust that the six days he allotted for work are enough.
Rest is necessary, and we cannot earn it. Sabbath and rest are gifts from God, times to rejoice in the freedom He gave us. Do not try to earn a gift that is freely given.
