“And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” Genesis 2:1-3 NASB

We’re kicking off 4 weeks of blogs, leading up to a church wide Sabbath Sunday and I believe the best place to begin is literally at the beginning. My prayer for this time is for us to all get a deeper understanding of the Sabbath, rest, and why it’s an important part of the rhythms of our church. When teaching on the Sabbath, starting in Genesis is almost a necessity. For us to understand the Sabbath we must first understand its role in creation.

Have you ever asked or wondered why rest is so deeply woven into the fabric of creation? In the opening chapters of Genesis, we find a beautiful, poetic narrative of God’s creation. For 6 days God worked, shaping the world, forming the land, separating the waters, and filling the earth with life. And then, on the 7th day, something extraordinary happened: God rested. He didn’t rest because He was tired, He rested to show us something fundamental about the universe and about ourselves.

Genesis, Chapters 1 and 2, are more than a simple recounting of events. It’s a piece of Hebrew poetry that is rhythmic in nature and full of repetition. The first 6 days of creation follow a clear, steady cadence: “There was evening, and there was morning.” Day after day, the pattern continues, until everything builds to a crescendo—the 7th day. On that day, God blessed His creation, set the day apart as holy, and rested. It was as if the entire rhythm of the universe pointed to this day, the day of rest, the Sabbath.

This idea of Sabbath rest is not just an afterthought. It’s the culmination of creation, a reminder that rest is a part of divine order. God didn’t bless any of the other days, but He blessed this one. Why? Because the 7th day is a day of delight, a day set apart for enjoying what has been created and recognizing God’s presence in it all. In fact, some scholars argue that the entire creation account is a setup for this grand finale, the Sabbath. It’s a rhythm that invites us to rest, to be present, and to enjoy the world as God intended.

But what does this mean for us today? In our culture, rest is often seen as a luxury or even a sign of laziness. We live in a world where productivity is king, where our worth is often measured by how much we get done. Yet God sees rest differently. He calls it holy. He invites us into His rest, not because we’ve earned it, but because it’s part of the life He designed for us.

So, how do we start embracing this gift of Sabbath? It begins with a shift in perspective. Instead of seeing rest as wasted time, we can start to see it as sacred time. We can create space in our week to pause, turn off our screens, step away from our work, and simply just be. Maybe it’s a quiet walk in nature, a slow meal with loved ones, or time spent in reflective prayer. The objective is to stop striving and start savoring.

Imagine setting aside one day each week to rest and reconnect with God. It’s not about rules or restrictions; it’s about delighting in the rhythm of creation and experiencing the joy and peace that come from being in God’s presence. Sabbath is an invitation for us to join in God’s finished work and to remember that life is more than what we accomplish. It’s about being, not just doing.

So this week, let’s consider how we might make room for Sabbath in our life. Could we carve out time to disconnect from work and reconnect with God? It doesn’t have to be perfect or elaborate. It just needs to be intentional. Rest is not a reward for surviving another week, it’s a gift that God offers to us and sits waiting for us to receive.