KEPT BY THE SABBATH
 
I Haven’t Kept The Sabbath; It Has Kept Me
 
Few concepts have added as much life to my life as learning to keep the Sabbath, which I discovered during my first year as a pastor. I don’t think saying it saved my life is an overstatement. It has been true spiritually, as I would have burned out long ago. Perhaps it has been true in other ways because I have had a healthy life. I have always been driven, trying to excel at everything I do, and I want to do it all. I have a wide range of interests and likes. I am both creative and committed, which is a toxic combination. I am deeply grateful to the Lord of the Sabbath, who led me into this revelation you are about to read. I don’t think I would have found it otherwise, in part, because I hadn’t come across any books that taught it then, nor had I met any pastor who practiced it. Sure, some pastors took days off as needed, and others practiced it in a legalistic way, but I never met anyone who delighted in taking a Sabbath each week. It would be a long time before I met anyone who observed a Sabbath in a wholesome and balanced way. 
 
Shortly after entering full-time ministry, the Lord intervened, helping me to manage the stress that so easily besets me. I have sincerely tried to keep a Sabbath consistently since 1985, but there is a sense in which I haven’t kept the Sabbath; it has kept me.
 
Learning to rest and reflect has been the primary way Jesus, my Pastor, restores my soul, keeps the creative well flowing, and has given me the strength to accomplish as much as I have. I trust this study will challenge you to labor to enter rest so that you can do much to advance the Kingdom of God.