Restfulness on the Sabbath

February 4, 2020 Jessica Florey


Observing the Sabbath is a complex discussion at Covenant. During my four years here, my understanding and view of the Sabbath has continued to transform. The Sabbath is not only a day of rest for our bodies, but also a day of rest for our souls—a day set aside to worship and be reminded of the many ways God has been faithful in the past week.

In my experience, we do not often see this whole picture of Sabbath rest and worship play out among the student body at Covenant. We emphasize the need for physical rest but often we confuse Sabbath rest with watching TV or sleeping. Are those really all that it means to enjoy the rest for our souls in worship that the Sabbath offers us?

Taking a Sunday to sleep in or miss church because life can be hectic is okay, but we do need to be careful about not getting into a habit of. It can be easy to trick our minds into believing that “Oh, I’m feeling a little under the weather, and I haven’t rested all week” or “I stayed up ‘til 2 AM last night and really just need to take an easy morning.” This is not what the Sabbath is about. The Sabbath is about taking a day away from the work of the week, and focusing on worshiping and glorifying God.

Although we should be worshiping every day of the week, the Sabbath is specifically set aside to worship as a Christian body. If we are taking the Sabbath seriously, that means setting aside other things to make sure we can prioritize worship on that day; for instance, maybe instead of staying up until 2 AM, you could go to bed earlier so you don’t need to sleep in.

I do believe a part of the Sabbath is, in fact, taking physical rest. This can be in soaking in time with friends, not doing homework, and even in letting our brains relax with some entertainment. But this day was set aside for reflecting on God’s faithfulness in the week and in all that he has done. Are we really doing that by prioritizing physical and mental rest?




In particular, spending Sundays enjoying TV shows strikes me as concerning. Often TV programs are quite the opposite of worshipful rest. These shows turn our minds to the things of this world instead of heavenly things, involving ourselves in the gossip and drama of the world and even lusting after relationships in the show.

As Hannah Bloomquist, Andreas RD, once said, “Would you eat a brownie with a piece of poop in it?” That is exactly what we are doing when we watch shows like “Friends,” one of the first shows that, rather than condemning having multiple sexual partners, lent normalcy to that behavior.

While there is much that I do not understand about the Sabbath, and while I have not yet mastered healthy restful habits, one thing I know for sure is that many forms of entertainment, TV shows, in particular, are not very worshipful or restful for our souls.

Each person has their own convictions, and the Sabbath will look different for everyone, but I pray that each of you would hold your Sabbath up to the Lord and consider how it could be more glorifying and honoring to him. Instead of being quick to use the excuse of rest to watch TV, you could prayer journal, read devotional works, or spend time in fellowship.


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