A Review of Joel Peed’s “A Sabbath Map: Navigating Holistic Renewal for Christians”
Blog Post by Erin St. Jean
What if I have been viewing my discipleship all wrong?
Recently, I had an opportunity to read a new book written by our brother in Christ, Joel Peed. As a follower of Jesus, a wife, a mother of three teenagers, and an employee, my life is pretty jam-packed, so I relished the idea of finding a better way to make all the ends meet within the pages of this book. What I found out was that I might be living my life in entirely the wrong way.
To use a little Southern speak, I’m a “git er done” kind of gal. I love efficiency. I don’t mince words. I get to the point and I say what I mean. And as my husband likes to tell people, “she gets 18 things done for every one thing I get done”. I get that I have a bit of the “Martha” gene. I tend to scratch my head when I consider why Mary was just sitting there when there was so much to do (Luke 10:38-42).
There is something in our society that has taken Martha’s “virtue” of busyness and put it into hyperdrive. And as a modern woman with places to go and things to do, I thought that becoming a Christian only meant changing my “what” and my “why”. It made sense to stop chasing after the things of the world in exchange for things of God. But what if part of the problem was the chasing itself? That’s when Joel’s words hit me like a ton of bricks:
“When I became a disciple of Jesus, I “Christianized” these ambitions and turned them into a different kind of “more”: more Jesus, more Bible, more purity, more righteousness, more church, more growth, more understanding, more humility, more therapy, more education, more leadership, and even more leadership success. All these things can be good, but there was a problem: My soul became even more restless. Where was this “rest for your soul” Jesus offered? My only conclusion had to be, as Taylor Swift recently sang, “I’m the problem, it’s me.” What is wrong with me that I am so profoundly broken?”
I saw that I too, like the great Tay-Tay, was at the center of my own pain. I felt the weight of my brokenness as I realized that I had caused myself all kinds of spiritual “repetitive stress injuries”. I had exchanged worldly “more” with church “more”. And the problem was the “more”. The problem was that I needed to find a way to pursue less on purpose. I, as an expert of baby-wearing, multi-tasking, list-building, job-conquering, life-organizing Martha-ness, had…chosen the wrong thing. I thought I was acting in Christian “set apart mode”, but in reality I was diving headlong into the world’s “break apart mode”. The following excerpt from A Sabbath Map offers a powerful critique of this foolishly frenetic mindset and how Sabbath practice has changed Joel’s heart:
“I am happy to say that this Sabbath practice has not only rested my soul, but it has also changed how I work. Jesus doesn’t just offer rest, but a different paradigm of work. He gives us a yoke and burden, but one that is not heavy and wearisome—a yoke and burden He described as easy and light. Therefore, my soul experiences rest not just one day a week but on the other six as well, even while working. How sweet is that?
Our world is burning out, but what is the answer? Work/life balance has been tried but found wanting. Quiet quitting? Working from home? Four-day work week? The next newfangled idea may be the answer, but I have my suspicions. How about instead of a new path, we consider an ancient one? Practicing the Sabbath creates a sacred rhythm and pathway into the rest and work of Christ, an ancient pathway of life that actually works in the twenty-first century! Why? Because it is of God, and we’re still the humans for which God designed the gift of Sabbath. It has worked for me, my family, and my church family in ways I never imagined.”
I strongly identify with this crucial need to bring sacred rhythms back into my everyday life. I now see that when I ignore the cycles, rhythms, and mindset that God has gifted to me, I am missing out on a powerful aspect of his love. As readers of the book, The Five Love Languages might appreciate, one of my primary love languages is “receiving gifts”. Imagine my horror to discover that for decades of my life I have been turning my nose up at a gift that my Father designed just for me!
Now, I know that some of you may be thinking, “Wait a minute. Isn’t ‘Sabbath’ just an old-timey, Old Covenant rule that we’re not bound by anymore?” I have always thought this too, but Joel tackles this objection head on:
“The Sabbath did not start with the old covenant, but originated in the character of God himself. Since the character of God is immutable, we need to ask who this God who rested is and why He created this rhythm of work and rest. Are applications of the Sabbath principle different after the Pentecost of Acts 2? Absolutely, as we learn much about the Sabbath from Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath. The New Testament epistles also teach dangers and subsequent warnings surrounding the Sabbath. None of these void this invitation into the sacred blessings of this gift from God. Quite the opposite, they enrich it.”
Back to discipleship. It was a smack in the face to realize that my faith was driven more by the restlessness of my modern soul than by the Lord of the Sabbath. Since that time, I have come to see that Jesus is not inviting me to do more; he is inviting me to think, act, and be more like him. And that is a very different goal. So Sabbath isn’t some legalistic rule to follow; it’s Divine permission to guiltlessly take the rest I need on a routine basis.
I have to admit that I’m still not the most still person. I remain a long way from Mary’s example of faith and correct priorities in the face of cultural norms. But I am happy to report that with every passing month, I am more and more likely to pull up a mat beside my spiritual sister and sit at Jesus’ feet.
Joel Peed’s book, A Sabbath Map: Navigating Holistic Renewal for Christians is available now on Amazon.
Commentaires