One day a week for rest and worship is heaven’s appetizer. Here’s what I mean.

Think of an appetizer. It’s something that tastes good and is satisfying, but makes you anticipate or look forward to the full meal that is yet to come. It whets your appetite.

That’s what the day of rest and worship is supposed to be like. It should be good and satisfying to us, but it is also meant to make us look forward to the full and final Rest that will come at the end of our lives. It’s not the full experience, but it’s meant to whet our appetite in anticipation of that great and glorious day. 

When he was sixteen, Nathaniel Mather severely chastised himself for whittling a stick on Sunday. He felt that in so doing he had brought a bit more atheism into the world! I’m not suggesting we go that far. But the pendulum has swung so far in the direction of apathy that we are wise to make a corrective in the direction of faithful diligence. 

It centres you on God. It’s good for your mind, body and soul. It makes you feel more rested. And since it reminds you of the ultimate Rest that is to come, it energizes and motivates you to push through the hardships of life. After all, they are temporary, but God’s eternity is not.

Hebrews 4:9-10 captures the promise: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.”

Look at your schedule, plan rest, and whet your appetite.

It’s heaven’s appetizer.

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Notes:

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.