CAPA Corner: Why a Day of Rest and Worship is a Gift

    1. It puts a period at the end of the work week, it puts a stop to the laboring. Without it, labor and work and toil would be endless. Psychologically, humans need periods at the end of things. We can endure most anything when we know it only lasts for a season. And that is the case for work.
    2. It nurtures our well-being. Humans must rest. Without rest, like sleep, we emotionally break down. We become socially out of balance. We can only continue to physically perform anything as we have regular occasions to stop and rest. 
    3. It promotes God’s favor. One of God’s ancient prophets, Isaiah preached "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD…"
    4. It expresses God’s kindness to us. We are relieved of the strains of labor whether physical or mental. The Sabbath Day declares we are NOT slaves to the company store! 
    5. It reinforces our submission to God as our Creator. A day of rest is rooted in God’s creative artistry. This is a day of the week which affirms the very existence of God Himself for we have no other explanation for a week of time other than as an act of God’s creative work. 
    6. Allows a day for ultimate enjoyment – the enjoyment of God. I personally find sunsets, fishing and hunting, hiking, Hubble space pictures, medium-cooked prime rib, ice cream, grapes,  cherries, flying in airplanes – just travel – I find all of these enjoyable. But also lacking. The most beautiful sunset stirs a homesick feeling in me, looking down from the air aboard a plane makes me want more freedom, the best of meals always has a price to pay in one form or another. All of those and more tell me that I am designed for something other and that other is better than the best I enjoy now. I am designed for God and the ultimate enjoyment that is only found in Him by the soul of one who has been brought into His life, His freedom, His well-being, His kindness, His rest. 
Jeff Stanfill,
Covenant Community Church