RELAXING, SABBATH VACATION

While sports fishing off the Florida coast, a tourist capsized his boat. He could swim, but his fear of alligators kept him clinging to the overturned craft. Spotting an old beachcomber standing on the shore, the tourist shouted, “Are there any gators around here?!”
“Naw,” the man hollered back, “they ain’t been around for years!”
Feeling safe, the tourist started swimming leisurely toward the shore. About halfway there, he asked the guy, “How’d you get rid of the gators?”
“We didn’t do nothin’,” the beachcomber said. “The sharks got ’em.”
That doesn’t sound like a very relaxing vacation! At this time of year, a lot of folks will be heading off somewhere to get away on what we call a “vacation”. The dictionary defines it as “an extended period of leisure and recreation or in travelling, especially one spent away from home.” I think with the way God wired us as human beings, we need those extended times so we can rest both our bodies and minds whether we leave our homes or not. The riddle asks “Why don’t mummies go on summer vacation?” Answer: They’re afraid to relax and unwind! I know for myself when I’m on vacation, rather than constantly being on the go, I especially enjoy time to relax and unwind. The truth is we need to be able to take it easy, especially if we’re leading busy, demanding lives.
Our Maker understood this right from the beginning. After creating this world, He established a weekly Sabbath that we might have a day when we can rest from our labors. That’s vital for our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. The Sabbath is a gift God has given mankind for those who may be tempted to constantly burn the candle at both ends. Psalm 127:2 tells us “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for He (the Lord) grants sleep to those he loves.”
But there’s another important aspect to our Sabbath times whether weekly or on vacation. In Hebrews we read “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest…” (4:9-11) Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi wrote, “’The Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God’ is not only a physical cessation from work… but also a spiritual entering into God’s rest made possible through Christ’s complete redemption. The physical act of resting becomes the vehicle through which one experiences the spiritual rest. We cease from our daily work to allow God to work in us more freely and fully.” When we take the time for leisure and recreation, the Lord is able to re-create us, renewing us with the invigorating sense of God’s refreshing, eternal life which has come through our Savior’s work of salvation. And that helps recharge our batteries strengthening us for when we return to our daily tasks.
In the movie Forrest Gump, he asks, “Mama, what’s vacation mean?” to which she responds, “Vacation is where you go somewhere… and you don’t ever come back.” But for us, when we go away for some kind of relaxing, Sabbath vacation, we do “come back” to our everyday challenges, our service to those around us and our commitment to Christ and His Church. And our time of “vacation” (whatever that may be for you) helps make us more of what our Lord wants us to be.
In His Service, Jim