Counsels on Wellness

Counsel #7 — Can Rest Include Activity?

Picture: Counsel #7 — Can Rest Include Activity? CWe 143.1

Sabbath rest does not mean wasting the precious hours of the Sabbath in bed! The spirit of Sabbath rest may be found in corporate worship in church, private worship in nature, spending time in prayer and Scripture study and spiritual songs, visiting the sick or lonely, and enjoying family time.^[153] CWe 143.2

“And He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.’” Mark 2:27, 28 NKJV CWe 143.3

“The first Sabbath of the week of prayer was a day of earnest activity…. Some were much surprised that we would exert ourselves on the Sabbath to bring them to the meeting. They had been taught that Sundaykeeping consisted largely in physical inactivity; and they thought that because we were zealous in the matter of Sabbathkeeping, we would keep it according to the teachings of the Pharisees.

“We told our friends that in the matter of keeping the Sabbath, we studied the example and teachings of Christ whose Sabbaths were often spent in earnest effort to heal and to teach….” Ellen White in Selected Messages, bk. 3, p. 259 CWe 143.4

Reflect: Do you plan for Sabbath to have joy and meaning, or does Sabbath just “happen” every week? CWe 143.5