Sabbath - Necessity of Unplugging From The Matrix

We find ourselves in a society where leisure time is shrinking. We are on a long trend of work, work and more work. Many of us judge ourselves by how busy we are. Some see a beeper as a sign of "importance."

We are busy, but what are we doing? Sometimes you can be so busy doing things that you don't ever take a step back and see how this busyness affects our families, friendships, and connection to God.

I can remember someone telling me that he must be must always retain a connection to the activities and events of the world during the hours of the Sabbath. His fear is that something important will happen and he will not know. Something big that he needs to address could come up during the hours of Sabbath that require him to respond. Many of us think just like that. We need to know so that we can be able to "do" and "work" at a minutes notice.

In light of these observations one might come to the conclusion that a time of complete disconnect from the powers-that-be during a 24 hour period is not possible. A time when we can "unplug from the Matrix" is something we cannot afford. We may miss something. We may be disconnected from something that may happen that we want to know about. We cannot afford Sabbath because the society in which we live makes Sabbath impossible.

We Come Back With A New Mind

One thing that we will learn when we begin keeping Sabbath is that the world goes on just as it has always been without us. When we begin our "six days of work" we learn that we are not indispensable to the working of this present world. It goes on, and we will have to "plug back in at the end of Sabbath. However we come back to the world with a different mindset.

We come to the world with a mindset enlightened by taking time off to live outside the confines of the kingdoms of this world. We come back to this world knowing that our society does not have the final word on what is possible and what is truth for we have boycotted that society for 24 hours and tasted at least partially the coming Basilea of God.

We have learned that our disconnecting from this world is the point. We need that disconnection! We must take time to see a vision. A vision where people are not judged by what they can produce, for all production and work is to cease. No we are are judged from the vision of the coming Basilea.

We have learned that family, faith, and friendship is important and must be celebrated and intentionally valued if we are to live in the coming Basilea rather than the Kingdoms of this world.

Is The Sabbath Relevant?

Is the Sabbath relevant? Certainly the Kingdom's of this world would rather you take an hour or so to "go to church" as long as you don't catch this vision of the new paradigm that we call the Basilea of God. Certainly the Kingdoms of the world would rather you keep looking at your clock hoping that this time period will go away so we all can get back to more pressing matters of ceaseless activity...

But let us not give up Sabbath. Hold on to it. It is the vision that God has given to us of what is to come. Let us hold on to Sabbath. For while the Kingdoms of this world might see it as unnecessary or a hindrance, it is a training bed for living the coming Basilea. Finally, it provides direction to help us during every other day of the week.