HCC Weekly - March 9th, 2026

The Story of Sabbath

Pastor Rachael

Genesis 2:2-3 NIV - By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Today’s devotional, I would like to share a little bit from the book we are reading together as a staff. It is called Even Better Than Eden By Nancy Guthrie. The chapter is titled “The Story of Sabbath.”

“But let’s be honest. Many of us get a little bit nervous when the topic of the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day comes up, because we’re afraid that we are using God’s day in a way that we shouldn’t, and really, we’d rather keep on doing that thing. In other words, we don’t see what God has set before us - keeping one day in seven as holy to him - as a gift but rather a restriction. We think anything we do to restrict how we use this day is going to take away from our life, that it will become less pleasurable, less satisfying, less stimulating, and honestly, far less interesting than what we like to do. We’ve come to see it as our day, not his day, or maybe even three hours if we’re going to Sunday school as well as worship, or to small group as well as the service, but we often find ourselves watching the clock because we want to get on with what we really want to do - get to the game, take a nap, work on a project, tune in to a show, get ready for the coming week. There is a voice inside some of us that says, ‘This is my time to do with as I please.’ Yet he who created time intends that time itself bear witness to his purpose in the world and in his people.”

The author of Hebrews says this in regard to the Sabbath: So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. (Heb. 4:9-11 ESV)

“This life was never meant to be an aimless existence; it has always been headed somewhere, somewhere better than Eden. The destination out in front of us should shape how we live day by day, week by week, and year by year. “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest…” How? By resting in Christ’s finished work and by spending a day, every week, anticipating the rest that is ahead of us because of it.”

Have a blessed Monday and I pray you think intentionally about Sabbath and strive to enter God’s rest.