Sabbath: An Ancient Life Hack
Why taking off a whole day each week makes total sense.
It seems to me that the Medium community is obsessed with ‘life hacks’. These are ways of streamlining, prioritising and minimalising in the pursuit of optimum productivity. As I scroll through the stories written or recommended by the people I follow, or when I scan the ‘top stories’ list, it is clear that there is a large readership desirous of living life to the fullest of its potential.
In fact, writers on Medium are not alone here. Is it not true that we all want to be that little more effective in what we do? Both a home-maker and a homing-missile engineer have a job to do. Whether it is in sports and athleticism, in administration and bureaucracy, or politics and government, the tendency is often towards making further and further headway. We strive for ergonomic work, looking for the maximum output from minimal input.
In a generation that is increasingly busy, ever more stressed, and often tired, these life hacks are incredibly appealing. Despite the rise of our technological age, we work not less but more. Rarely do we hear a person complaining of an abundance of time. And into this mix comes the life hack craze where we want to take control and make our time work for ourselves.
I’ve written about this topic before, but it is one that I keep returning to. I, like many others, am pre-occupied with productivity. Part of this might just be because I am a product of time, or because I am sympathetic towards Protestantism and its infamous work-ethic. But I am also concerned with productivity because I have a deep conviction of the God-givenness of life. I see my life as a gift, infused with meaning and purpose. I know that I am not made for idleness or futility. Instead, as a human being made in God’s image, I have the task and privilege of sharing in God’s creativity. Part of what it means for me — and indeed the whole of humanity — to be fully and truly human is to be productive and exercise creativity. When we don’t, we decline God’s offer of joyous fruitful labour, and we decline the invitation to be more truly ourselves.
But the Bible also tells us of God’s command to rest and take a “Sabbath”. Although there are many ways of outlining the meaning and full implications of what this means, I want to share just one short observation of my own.
Taking a Sabbath, having a day off each week, helps to remind me that I am not in total control over my life. I am not entirely autonomous, self-sufficient and independent. In a modern Western culture like ours, where our worth and value are often measured by success, and where identity is formed through playing to the meritocracy, productivity is exalted and given great importance. But there is a problem with this: we often grow weary. We often fail to reach up to our expectations. We often let ourselves down. The meritocracy, in the long term, is functionally and experientially flawed.
Sabbath slows me down, and runs counter-intuitive to the meritocracy. When I take a Sabbath, and step out from the hamster-wheel of ‘productivity’, I begin to realise that my identity is not supposed to be so tightly bound to performance or achievement. This doesn’t mean that we no longer work, or make effort and try hard. We do, of course. What this means is that our work is relativised. We are made for a greater existence, which incorporates both work and rest. Sabbath teaches us that we are made for life with God; a life chiefly characterised by basking in his love for us, and sharing that love with one another.
There is a strange irony to Sabbath: in relinquishing control over every last hour, we actually gain in the long run. And this is perhaps where Sabbath is at odds with many other productivity life hacks, which stress taking control. In losing our self-sufficiency we find our freedom. There is a sense of this freedom seen in Deuteronomy 5, a place in the Bible where God commands the Sabbath:
12 Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 14 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work…15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
In short, “Take the Sabbath as an act of remembrance. Remember that you are free.”
What kind of freedom do we possess, of which can Sabbath remind us? We are free from the meritocracy and the tendency to ascribe worth to ourselves based upon our mechanical output. Sabbath shows us that humanity is made for a different kind of productivity. It is a productivity that leads to flourishing through communion with God.
It is a Sunday, and I am taking the whole day off. Right now, I am sipping on a flat white while I soak in the bustling atmosphere of a Durham café. I have made no plans, and I have no agenda. The rest of the day lies ahead of me.
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