Day 21: A Deep Breath

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Gensis 1:1, NIV)

Welcome to the age of technology.

We've got lots of fun gadgets, toys, and communication techs and I love them all. Just take a look:

• cell phones
• laptop computers
• radio
  
• internet
• handheld computers
• pagers
• television

And a multitude of others. Consider all the technologies we are surrounded by! We are constantly able to be at work and play.

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. (Genesis 2:2, NIV)

And an incredible variety of transportation options too! You can hop in a car and go practically anywhere that you can get to via land. And if that's not enough, hop on a plane and fly anywhere in the world.

People are communicating at the speed of light all over the world at this very moment. You can hold a video chat in America with someone in Japan in a matter of seconds. Businesses can now be run without a home office as people develop online businesses and shop online for their goods.

But why aren't people satisfied with all this?

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. (Genesis 2:3, NIV)

I get pretty antsy these days if I've forgotten my cell phone. I feel like I've been disconnected from the rest of the world. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to live before such things.

But... it's not always a great thing to be connected. Sometimes I forget to just... breathe a little.

Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27-28, NIV)

I understand what it's like to book your days full of stuff to do. But even on those days when I have nothing planned, I still end up finding a way to stuff my day. The internet alone has more stuff to see than entire lives of men could possibly process.

But, I don't think we were created to live this way. If God himself took a day to rest on creation, and created and blessed this day for us to rest, I think that speaks to our need for rest. And I'm not just talking about "oh yea, I had that day off from work/school," I'm talking about real rest. The kind of time where you have scheduled to do nothing.

I'm guilty of taking what should be my rest time and filling it up. I'm not going to say you should never work on a Sunday or shouldn't work or anything like that, but remember the human need to rest. It was instilled in us from the very opening of the world. Turn the cell phone off and unplug the computer or TV if you have to.

Tomorrow we're going to apply the principle of rest. Coincidentally, it is the sabbath, and it will be very, very short ;-)