Plus how to transition from viewing Sabbath as a life-sucking chore to a life-giving gift
In this episode, authors Mark Batterson (Win the Day and Do it for a Day) and Jordan Raynor (Redeeming Your Time) discuss:
Want to go deeper on these topics? Pick-up a copy of Mark's books (Win the Day and Do it for a Day) and Jordan's (Redeeming Your Time).
[00:00:11] JR: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Redeem the Day Podcast, a seven-episode series aimed at helping you be more purposeful, present, and productive. I'm Jordan Raynor, author of Redeeming Your Time, and I'm joined by Mark Batterson, author of Do It for a Day and Win the Day.
All right, so, Mark, both of our books are about accomplishing more and being more productive towards the Lord's aims in the world, and yet both of us spend a lot of time talking about the need for rest. In my book, I point out these three rhythms of rest in particular. Break started workdays, a nightly eight-hour sleep opportunity, weekly Sabbath. We don't have time on this podcast to go deep on all three of those rhythms. So today, we're just going to zero in on the practice of Sabbath, and specifically we're going to address the evidence that Sabbath rest is, counter intuitively, one of the most productive things we can do. We're going to talk about how we've transitioned from viewing Sabbath as a life-sucking chore to a life-giving gift, and what Sabbath can look like practically.
So, Mark, before we go any further, I don't want to assume that everybody listening knows what this concept of Sabbath even is. What is Sabbath, and where does this idea come from, Mark?
[00:01:33] MB: Well, it takes us all the way back to Genesis that God creates the heavens and the earth, and you can read the accounting of it during those first six days. Should we just have a conversation about whether they're literal six days or not?
[00:01:48] JR: Did you want to go there? Yeah.
[00:01:49] MB: No. But then on the seventh day, of course, God sets an example for us and this idea of six days to create, one day to recreate. The Sabbath in the Hebrew, a couple of different meanings. One would be a literal catching of our breath, which I love. It's almost a restoring of our spirit. I think it's a critical rhythm and I would argue that at some point more is less and less is more. That if you go seven days a week, 365, at some point, you're going to hit a point of diminishing return. I really think we're wired in a way, not just with a night day sleep cycle but with a weekly cycle that we really need to rest and recover almost like a professional athlete, Jordan. Like with that kind of intentionality, we need to rest and recover. I think that's the intent of the Sabbath.
Now, let's not turn it into some legalistic thing that it wasn't meant to be. Man was not created for the Sabbath. Jesus said the Sabbath was created for man, so it's a gift to us. But like a lot of gifts that God has given to us, we aren't always so good at receiving and enjoying those gifts.
[00:03:17] JR: Yeah. It shouldn't surprise us that because this is a gift from God, it does make us more productive when we enjoy the gift. That's been my personal experience, but I cite a bunch of studies about this in my book. My favorite one, maybe you know this, Mark, but in the 1800s, when Americans were heading out to the West in droves in search for gold, there was this little book that was published. It was called The Emigrants’ Guide to California. It's published in 1849 and it said that the gold rushers who rested the most, specifically by observing the Sabbath, reached their destination the quickest paradoxically. There's a quote here that says directly from the book, it says, “Those who laid by on the Sabbath, resting themselves and their teams, reached Gold Country 20 days sooner than those who traveled seven days a week.”
[00:04:12] MB: Okay, Jordan, we got to stop right here because here's one of my habits. When reading a book that I really love, I study the endnotes.
[00:04:21] JR: Yeah, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Me too, yeah.
[00:04:22] MB: I always rabbit trail and try to figure out, where did this author find this obscure fact? This one might take the cake. Where in the world did you come across this because I love it?
[00:04:36] JR: All right, this is a rabbit trail. I was reading The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, great book by our mutual friend, John Mark Comer. We're going to talk a little bit more about in episode seven. He had mentioned that there might be some evidence to this end, and so he linked to an article. I read that article, found another source, and eventually found The Emigrants’ Guide to California. It's a great story though, right?
[00:05:04] MB: Yeah, no doubt. I mean –
[00:05:05] JR: I’m going to send you the full story because there's like a lot more here that's just gold that didn't make its way into Redeeming Your Time.
[00:05:13] MB: I love it. On this note, I do have to share one thing.
[00:05:16] JR: Please.
[00:05:17] MB: That whenever I run into a travel delay or travel fiasco, and I get frustrated by a 15-minute delay for a flight that's going to take me 500 miles an hour, 30,000 feet all the way across the country in five hours, I have a little mantra to just put it in perspective. The mantra is this. It beats a covered wagon.
[00:05:44] JR: That's a good perspective, especially right now, with every flight. It seems to be delayed by six hours.
[00:05:50] MB: No doubt.
[00:05:51] JR: So, Mark, listen, these gold rushes found Sabbath to be productive to their goals. But I believe it's also productive for our souls, right? If I can rhyme like a good Southern Baptist preacher, like would you agree? If so, like, what's the connection here? How is Sabbath good for our spirits?
[00:06:09] MB: Well, my brain begins to hyperlink because as you say that, I immediately think about how if you don't let a field lie fallow, if you continue to harvest it over and over and over, and if you don't crop rotate either, you're at some point going to run into trouble because it will stop yielding what it was meant to yield. So in the same sense, I just don't think that our souls can function the right way without that kind of rest. It's almost like an old phone or computer where the battery just doesn't hold its charge very good. I think we're the same way that we're going so fast, that we suffer from at least – I can't remember who called it this but hurry sickness, that we're always playing catch up, and our souls feel so empty. So, yeah, I think, at some point, it's counterproductive for the soul and for getting things done if you don't obey this natural rhythm that's true of time. It's true of farming. It's true of everything.
[00:07:24] JR: Yeah, and let's just put a finer point on it. This is part of living in line with the image of God. This is what God did. He worked for six days. He rested one. To live as his image bearer is to rest, and I love the image of a field. That's really beautiful. All right, so if Sabbath is so productive for us, so good for us, why don't we do it? For me, for a lot of years, Mark, I just viewed Sabbath as this life-sucking, legalistic chore, right? This day filled with things that I couldn't do, rather than a life-giving gift filled with things that I could do. I got to imagine. I'm assuming here. But as a pastor, I'm assuming you've heard this objection before. How do you counsel people on this? How do you help people see Sabbath for what it is, a gift from God?
[00:08:14] MB: Well, I think you have to start with a little bit of a reality check that your life is perfectly designed for the results you're getting. So you need to take a long, hard look. How is this working for you emotionally, physically, relationally? I'm not buying it if you're telling me that you can violate the Sabbath, and it doesn't have a negative toll on your life. Here's the challenge, Jordan. In my experience, all of us, just like there are laws of nature, laws of physics, there are certain laws that govern human nature. But all of us think that we're the exception to the rule. We all think it applies to everybody else, but I can cheat the system. No, if you cheat the system, you're going to cheat yourself and you're going to feel the effect.
So I do think it's about auditing your life, auditing your time, auditing your energy, taking inventory, being in tune with how you're doing, and that's going to help you really see the truth that, man, the Sabbath is pretty critical. Now, I have to admit, though, that the one thing that occasionally on a Sunday I really respect, but I'll pull into that Chick-fil-A drive through, Jordan. I'm like, “Oh, that's right. It must be Sunday.”
[00:09:51] JR: It always feels like it's Sunday that I am pulling into Chick-fil-A.
[00:09:55] MB: It does, doesn't it?
[00:09:57] JR: So I loved Truett Cathy's little autobiography on the founding of Chick-fil-A, and he said – Because everyone's like, “Oh. Well, he did this to like give his employees a day off,” which is partially true. He did it for himself, really. He said in his autobiography, “Sabbath became my salvation.” Like he was working so hard in building that brand. He just had to have it, right? I'll tell you what. On this topic of making the shift of how we do Sabbath, I've personally found great encouragement in Jesus’s own words, which you alluded to. I think it was in this episode, maybe it’s the last one, that Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, right? He was basically agreeing that, yeah, the Pharisees have made this thing, this life-sucking chore. But I'm here to remind you, Sabbath is a gift. I made it for you. The Father made it for us, so go enjoy the gift.
Pastor Kevin DeYoung describes Sabbath as an island of get to in a sea of have to. I think that’s spot on. It's a day filled with things we can do and enjoy and just enjoy being a child of God. So, Mark, what does Sabbath look like for you and your family real practically? Like take us – You guys do sundown Sunday to sundown Monday? Take us through that day.
[00:11:19] MB: Yeah. Well, and for starters, let's recognize that for a Jewish person, the day would begin at sundown. This is huge because you're preparing yourself. In fact, I would argue that nothing sets up the next day more than, as you said, Jordan, that eight hours of sleep that I know some of us think we need a little bit less. But the reality is almost everybody I know probably needs more sleep than they're getting, in part just because of, even if you have blue light glasses, you're cutting edge, we are not resting the way that we could or should.
[00:12:03] JR: All right, so hang on one second, one second. So you mentioned how we all think we're the exception of the rule. When I was researching Redeeming Your Time, I came across this medical journal that found that you are six times more likely to win an Olympic gold medal than you are to be one of the rare people in this world who have this gene that enables you to get less than eight hours of sleep a night and operate at your full potential.
[00:12:32] MB: Well, listen. To all the gold medalists out there, congratulations. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
[00:12:39] JR: It’s crazy.
[00:12:39] MB: Hey, by the way, I do think shopping for a mattress, if you can afford it. It took us many years to be able to have the luxury to get a mattress that is worth sleeping on. But it's one of the best investments you'll make. You're going to spend a lot hours on that thing, and so maybe don't cut corners right there. So, yeah, I think for us, it's recognizing that on a perfect Sabbath, and during football season, I'm going to keep it real, Jordan, I'm watching a game or two or three. It's how I decompress. So occasionally, it depends on that football schedule. But we try to Sunday at sundown, we may celebrate communion together. We may go through our gratitude journal. We may just share a meal together. Hey, let's catch our breath. What was this last week like? Maybe think about the week ahead. Just reconnect with each other as husband and wife. Then that prepares us for the week ahead.
Now, on that Sabbath, generally speaking, my Sabbath begins with a workout, which might seem counterintuitive. I thought it was a day of rest. Well, it's the one day that I can do a longer run or a longer bike, spend more time at the gym, and that's how I rest. That's how I recreate, with a good workout and then, generally, a coffee date usually not at Ebeneezer’s because we'll probably run into someone that they'll turn into work but a coffee date. We might go on a hike, might take our dog to the arboretum for a long walk, usually get in a good nap. I'm a big believer in naps, Jordan. We could do a whole episode on napping because I am – I get – We all have different circadian rhythm. But, for me, that is the way I'm wired.
Then I occasionally will try to get massage at the mall. They have this spot you can just pop in and kind of like that it's in a public place. They'll take care of some of that stress that we talked about in episode one that's in the neck or the shoulders. So that's sort of what a Sabbath looks like for me. If I'm behind on my daily Bible reading plan, that usually is the day when I catch up. Give or take, that's what a Sabbath looks like.
[00:15:06] JR: I love it. So it's a day of things you don't do. But, again, a day filled with a lot of great things that you choose to do and just enjoy the good things that God has given you. I want to underscore this because I think this is really important. You’re a pastor, right? So you're working most of the day on Sunday, I would imagine. I think a lot of people assume that in order to enjoy the gift of Sabbath, it’s got to be observed Saturday evening to Sunday evening. Can you offer some encouragement and freedom to our listeners here?
[00:15:39] MB: Yeah. I mean, we shifted our day of worship to Sunday as a little tip of the cap to the resurrection. So generally speaking, I mean, we already shifted some of that weekly rhythm as is. I think, yeah, this is where I don't think we want to be legalistic on this front. I think for many people, yes, Saturday to Sunday works. But if you're a pastor, you're in full time ministry, it really doesn't. We did choose Monday, in part, because it's the day that's furthest from Sunday. By the time Sunday approaches, it's game time. I'm in game mode, getting ready to preach or do whatever else I need to do. So, for me, generally speaking, it just is the timeframe that works best, and you have to figure that out for yourself. For some, it could be a Friday evening to a Saturday or Saturday to Sunday, whatever it is. It’s about finding the rhythm that works for you and then putting it into practice. Then you'll have a few stumbles along the way, but that's where you give yourself a little bit of grace and go back at it the next week.
[00:16:51] JR: Yeah. I'll share what Sabbath looks like for me in just a minute. But I do want to ask you one more question because I think a lot of people, especially people with young kids, like the stage of life I'm in right now, who are like, “I can't imagine. I cannot imagine taking one day off a week. It just seems impossible.” What would you say to them, Mark? Would you suggest that they start Sabbathing a couple of hours a week or just go all in in one day? What do you want to say to those people?
[00:17:19] MB: Well, that's tricky. It's almost like, hey, what if that 10% tied? That seems like a pretty big jump. Do I start with the 2%, 3%? Well, now I'm thinking about what about Bob and baby steps? But I do think, yeah, you've got to, at least, take steps in that direction. To me, the Sabbath is a weekly rest. C'est la, this musical term from the Psalms, which is a rest in the music most likely, c'est la is kind of a daily Sabbath. So, yeah, you may have to work your way up. Let's be honest. I think when we're talking about rest, I think sometimes you got to go for broke and maybe day off, phone off, and unplug. Try it. See how it works. We have a mantra at NCC. Everything is an experiment. Experiment with it. Figure out what works, what doesn't. Give yourself some grace, keep trying different things, and you'll figure it out. You'll figure it out if you stick with it.
[00:18:30] JR: Yeah, it's a good word. I'll just say if my family and I can make this work with three crazy young kids, again, seven, five, and just turned two, you can too. So I get asked this a lot. What does Sabbath look like for young kids? So just real quickly, for me, we do Sabbath from Saturday evening until Sunday evening. We like to be done before it's time to get ready for school on Monday and packing lunches and all that good stuff. But it ironically starts with work, right? Hebrews tells us that we have to make effort to enter into the rest of God. So on Saturday, we're doing laundry around the house and doing dishes and picking up the house and the kids putting away their stuff in the week. Then when we have everything out of the way and we can fully focus on rest, yeah, we order takeout from one of our favorite places in town and some epic dessert. Right now, we're all in on crumble cookies, greatest thing in the world, and we light a candle to just visually mark our transition in this time of rest. Yeah, we just fees for 24 hours on great food. On Sunday, we're spending more time in the word than we typically do. Obviously, we feast on the word with our church family.
Sunday afternoons are usually pretty low key. Sometimes, my wife and I will go on a date. But most weeks, honestly, it's just us hanging out with kids, playing board games, hanging out in the pool. I got a buddy named Jeff Heck, who runs this brewery called Monday Night Brewing in Atlanta, Georgia. He says sometimes Sabbath is as simple as a kiddie pool and a beer, and I wholeheartedly concur. But the principle is Sabbath is day filled of life-giving things. Mark, in Win the Day, you called Sabbath a zero gravity day. That's the idea, right? So I'm praying you guys would consider Sabbath, consider relaxing in the goodness of God via this weekly practice. Listen, Sabbath isn't about what you eat or what you do. It is a day to remember that Jesus is our Sabbath.
Okay, that's all for today's episode of the Redeem the Day Podcast. You guys, up next, we're talking about why Christians should have a unique relationship with the word no and the evidence that suggests Jesus himself was comfortable saying no to requests for his time. We'll see you there.
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