Today’s Daily Lesson comes from John chapter 6 verses 26 and 27:
26Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’
There is an old saying: “You gotta make hay while the sun is shining.”
It means we need to do the work while we have the chance. And LORD knows I’ve quoted it many times.
But Jesus is warning us about work today — or at least overwork. He’s warning us about work without end, work without rest, work without perspective.
The LORD gave us Sabbath to remember to keep all things in perspective. To remember that we were slaves in Egypt without rest. To remember that we are human beings and not human doings. To remember that the sun will come up and the grass will grow even if we aren’t out there plowing.
Jesus said not to work for the food that perishes. By that he meant there’s a law of diminishing returns on the food we put on the table. There’s a law of diminishing returns on work and on finding our identity in work. We can never quite make enough hay or find enough pleasure and security in its stockpile.
The LORD gave us Sabbath to free us from the delusion of simply working harder and harder to get our fill.
Sabbath reminds us that God is the one in control. Sabbath reminds us God is still working even when we are at rest. Sabbath reminds us we are not just what we do. Sabbath reminds us that we belong to the LORD and not to Pharaoh. And sabbath reminds us God is the one who gives us our daily bread and our daily being.
We really ought to practice it more.
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