I find myself so grateful for the opportunity to a part of an organization that places so much emphasis on our individual spiritual and emotional health. Being a member of a team that has a culture that values our walk with Christ and our family’s well being as much as productivity and results is a rare blessing. Our corporate reading of The Emotionally Healthy Leader by Peter Scazerro is just one example of this. This book has proven to be a fantastic tool for genuine growth and reflection for me personally, and the rest of our team at YFC. The discussions that we have during staff meeting about the contents of the book and the insights that we have gleaned from our reading have helped us to see the material from a variety of different perspectives.
In Zabrina’s excellent post regarding “Slowing Down for Loving Union” with Christ, she spoke about getting hit with a sucker punch from her reading. If I am to be honest, the same thing has happened to me as well. In boxing, they say that the worst punch is the one you don’t see coming. There have been different parts, or punches, from this book that I expected. With my tumultuous past, I expected to be hit hard by the chapters entitled, “Facing my Shadow” and “Lead out of Your Marriage or Singleness.” I was already aware of how my failures and inadequacies as a husband and father can affect ministry efforts and the Kingdom of God. So getting hit with those was partially deflected by the gloves. But it was in an area that I felt I really held as a strong point that I am finding myself most convicted to change. God loves to catch us in the places where we think we have it all together. In 1 Corinthians 1:27 we read, "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." (NIV)
I really thought that I had sabbath delight figured out (“Practice Sabbath Delight” is the title of chapter 5). I don’t do any work between Saturday evening and Sunday night. We go to church or do something worshipful at home, as is the case now thanks to Coronavirus lockdown. Naps are allowed. That’s what it’s all about right? God gives us a free day to chill. Got it! I thought to myself, “At least I know one part of this won’t hurt that bad.” I was wrong.
There is an assessment in each chapter for us to evaluate where we are in the specific area that the chapter is covering. We are required to rate ourselves on a scale of 1 to 5. Five represents “always true of me”, and a score of 1 represents “never true of me”. I received a 1 on these two statements: “I view Sabbath as a day to practice eternity and taste the ultimate Sabbath rest when I see Jesus face-to-face.” The other statement was “I practice Sabbath as a prophetic, countercultural act that resists the culture’s value that defines me by what I do rather than who I am. “ This revealed to me that I may have been observing the Sabbath, but doing it in the wrong way, or at least with the wrong motives. How much of my Sabbath was about my own comfort, rest, and enjoyment? How much was really about God? Have I used the command to observe Sabbath as an excuse to be a couch potato?
This has led me to decide, with my wife’s blessing, that we will be doing Sabbath differently from now on. We will have a screen free Sabbath! What’s more countercultural than that? It will be a little strange at first, but I think moving forward it will stand out as a special day where God is lifted high in our home as the Sabbath takes root in our family’s hearts.
God bless y’all.
-Adam
