By Robert Hurtgen

There is always something to do; a favor that must be done. A deadline that cannot be missed. A call, email, or text that must be made. Work easily slips into our schedule filling every gap. Without work we cannot enjoy rest, but without rest, all we are is enslaved to work.

We were created to work and gifted rest. From the beginning, men and women were created for caretaking. But when what the Bible describes as a result of "the fall" in which Adam and Eve were tempted, convinced they could be like God, and disobeyed him, everyone's labor became laborious. The work we were once created for has been degraded to toil. Instead of our work being fulfilling and allowing every single one of us to make the greatest difference where the greatest needs are, work has become a daily grind. An addiction. A hazard to our health.

We live every day in the tension of work and rest. A great temptation for all is to find our fulfillment in the tasks we fulfill. Too often before we realize what we thought mattered leaves us empty. Rest though is a gift of God.

In the creation story, God worked six days and rested on the seventh. He did not rest because he was worn out. He did not need a recharge. He did not require a change in latitude for a change in attitude. God rested because he could.

God rested because what he created did not have dominion over him. He was over it. He gave us then by his example the day of rest. Sabbath. Time carved out in our weekly routine to remind us that we have been created for more than work. Work can be good, but we matter more than work. More than the twenty-four-hour, seven day a week cycle.

Work and rest are both gifts that can easily be abused. Abuse of the one leaves us wanting. Violation of the other leaves us lacking. Sabbath is the reflection of a harmonious order in which he is over us and us over his creation. He over us and us over work. Taking time for some downtime is an act of worship boldly proclaiming both that you are more than what you do and God will care for you when you rest in him. Downtime is never wasted time.