And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
God’s Rhythm to Bless Us
Humans have a complicated relationship with rules. Even as small children, we struggle to understand the “why” behind them.
Consider how parents teach children to brush their teeth, reminding them morning and night. That child might only appreciate the chore years later, as they grow into adults and experience expensive and uncomfortable dental work. It’s then that a dull tooth-brushing routine feels valuable. What a shift in perspective!
We weren’t made to serve a strict toothbrushing schedule, but toothbrushing was made to serve us to help maintain healthy teeth.
Jesus brings similar wisdom and perspective to the expectation of taking a regular day of rest (Sabbath). The Jews knew that God was insistent on Sabbath observance, but they almost thought of it as if it were a chore. Jesus reminds them that people weren’t made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was created for people by God to provide much-needed rest.
Sabbath rest is God’s rhythm to bless us, not God’s requirement to burden us.
How can we know this is true? Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. He’s the maker (and fulfiller) of all God’s good rules, and He knows that regular rest is one of the rhythms that leads to an abundant life.
https://bible.com/bible/114/mrk.2.27.NKJV
Note after sharing the devotional: my views and understanding on the Sabbath is still a work in progress. As such, this note will likely be shorter than I might have originally intended (for anyone who is a frequent reader of my blog, you know how elaborate I like to get in my writing and reflecting!). At the very least, it be a sort of reference point for a future blog post, as I do hope to expound more on the Sabbath.
1. For the longest time, I never really understood how Sabbaths were really supposed to work -- until now. In a sense, I understood their function and purpose -- to lay aside work and other things, to actually physically rest, but also to spend time with God. According to my understanding, that is how we got to the idea of churches gathering on Sundays. It was a time to gather together as believers, praise and worship the God whom we claim to follow (and hopefully our lives show it!), listen to a Bible teaching, and spend time fellowshipping, encouraging one another, and praying for one another as needs arise. But for the longest time, I thought that was it to Sabbaths. It wasn’t until my Vineyard years when I first heard the idea of setting an entire day aside to not work (I’m sure I came across it in my prior years of Bible reading, but for some reason it never clicked). But for someone who already had a terrible time with planning and managing my schedule, dedicating a sort of weekly Sabbath was too tall a chore for me to grasp let alone tackle. Even now, in 2026, I’m still not sure I’ve got it. I do spend weekends resting more than not, but I still have spent time on my phone looking at YouTube videos of interesting things in this world rather than the things of God. That may be rest in one sense of the word, but it’s not refreshment, which leads to my second point:
2. Rest is a gift. From God. To us. (Yes, I chopped it up into three sentences for emphasis. Written words don’t always capture emphasis in the same way as speech, so this is the closest thing I can do to create it from thin air.) Anyway, back on topic. Rest is a gift from God to us. Just like with salvation, healing, provision, and other things, rest is a free gift that we should, nay, must take advantage of for our own spiritual benefit. My sense is that it doesn’t have to be set aside for Sundays (or in some cases, Saturdays, as that was the original Sabbath day). As long as you set aside 24 hours to intentionally not work, not deal with conversations with other people, and especially not deal with life’s drama; and instead plug in to God, into His Word, into prayer, and into praise and worship of Him. As long as you do these things weekly as such, you will be refreshed. That’s the promise.
3. Final thoughts from me on this topic (for now): I do think I have had seasons of rest. In addition to the Sabbath rest that God gave the Hebrews through Moses, He also ordained a Sabbath year of rest, as well as a year of Jubilee (an extra year of Sabbath rest upon reaching the Sabbath year of Sabbath years). From what I can tell, unlike weekly Sabbath days, I don’t see us doing anything closely resembling a Sabbath year, let alone a Jubilee, in our Western society. I think I may have experienced that from time to time, including the last year or so. In my life, I’ve had extended seasons of storm and stress (Sturm und Drang for your German language lovers out there) which were eventually followed by seasons of rest. From 2021-2024 I had an incredibly lengthy season of storm and stress, and I’ve been blessed to have a season of extended rest (in a sense) since. Right now I am in a season of God working through some deep stuff with me, which is finally clearing out quite a few things in terms of pain and stress. I’ve had previous seasons of both in different senses, depending on what the stress was about. But even so, my approaches to rest have been to take them in gulps, because I’ve still not done a good job planning for them.
Anyway, I had two Bible passages come to mind regarding Sabbaths and how to approach them. The two words that came to mind were wisdom and faith:
Proverbs 4:7, NKJV (wisdom)
Hebrews 11:6, NKJV (faith)
Proverbs 4:7, NKJV (wisdom)
Wisdom is the principal thing;
Therefore get wisdom.
And in all your getting, get understanding.
Hebrews 11:6, NKJV (faith)
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are wise and good in all things. Thank You for creating both work and rest as a blessing. Teach me to rest regularly and to receive it as the gift You made it to be. I need wisdom and faith to do this.