Is “Sabbath” Just a Religious Rule?

According to a 2023 Statistics Canada survey, over 4.1 million Canadians self-report as experiencing “high or very high levels of work-related stress,” which accounts for 21.2% of the work population. Previous research has quoted numbers even higher, suggesting that over one-third of adults in Canada are experiencing burnout.

I’ve already mentioned in previous blog posts about the increasing rates of anxiety and depression in Canada, and the same question remains… Why does it seem like many of us are just one stressful event away from blowing apart at the seams?

The survey above names one key culprit for this global dysfunction: poor work-life balance. In other words, Canadians do not spend enough time practicing sabbath.

Sabbath… Really?

I know what you’re thinking. You probably haven’t even heard the word “sabbath” since your Sunday school teacher taught you about the Ten Commandments.

 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God… For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8, NIV)

But maybe that is exactly the problem. Many of us haven’t thought about the Sabbath (let alone kept it “holy”) since grade school. It is like we think, at some point in world history, the practice of sabbath stopped being important.

Well… I hate to be the one that connects the dots for you, but if the current state of mental health and burnout in our country is any sign to us—we all need sabbath more than ever.

What is Sabbath?

The word “sabbath” comes from a Hebrew word for rest, but it is so much more than simply a day off from work. The historical understanding of sabbath involves celebrating with and delighting in family and community, and intentionally existing as we are created and “ought to be” (which is another way of thinking about worship).

Building a practice of sabbath into your life is much like any self-care activity. It takes planning and preparation, as well as some level of commitment to carrying it out. Leading up to sabbath, you need to slow yourself down. It doesn’t work to try to hit the breaks at the last minute (that sounds like a panic attack just waiting to happen). Instead, we do our best to live an even pace of life throughout the week and enter into sabbath with some sort of regular ritual (e.g. meal, bath, walk, etc.) to remind your body and soul that now is the time for rest and delight.

For your time of sabbath, fill your day with activities that give life and promote connectedness with yourself and others. There isn’t a specific list of “do’s or don’ts.” You could read a book, have coffee with a friend, take a leisurely walk with your spouse, build Lego with your kids, or just have a much-needed afternoon nap. The options are endless!

By regularly practicing sabbath, we realign ourselves with the rhythms and patterns that our body and soul were made for. It is like pressing a weekly “reset” button that helps us to fight the tide of culture pulling us to do more and be more, faster and better. More importantly, sabbath helps us to stand strong against our own desires, which almost always lead us into more dysfunction (more on this in the next blog post).

Religion or Wisdom?

I used to avoid the practice of sabbath as a teenager and young adult. I thought it was just a religious rule, with no practical benefits. And if I’m being completely honest… I was arrogant. I thought that I didn’t need sabbath or rest in my life. It was something that others needed, but not me—I was somehow going to survive the rest of my life without slowing down or resting.

(I’m sure you can guess where this story is going…)

Life caught up with me—and so did all the stress I had been running away from. Some wisdom prevailed, and I gradually started to schedule rest into my calendar, but I still refused to slow down.

I don’t want to make light of the COVID-19 pandemic, but honestly… it may have been a life saver for me! I finally had someone else telling me to stop and slow down, and my body and soul were thankful for the slower pace of life.

Since then, my wife and I have incorporated regular rhythms of sabbath into our marriage. It has taken on many different forms, depending on the season of life we are in, but it is something we do our best to protect in our schedule—not because we feel it is a religious obligation, but because we’ve found it to be a life-giving practice that enables us to connect with the Giver of Life.

I do believe that the Bible commands us to set aside one day a week for sabbath, and I also believe that this command extends to us today. But I also recognize that people reading this are coming from very different backgrounds and perspectives than me—many of which are not even Christian.

You see… I think that sabbath is so much more than just a religious rule. I think it is a practice that should be embraced by everyone wanting to live a happy and healthy life. If you give me a chance, I want to show some evidence that supports the notion that even if sabbath isn’t a rule or command that people should follow for religious reasons, it is still wisdom for us to follow today.

Just Look at the Adventists

I must thank John Mark Comer, and his writing on this topic, for bringing these studies to my attention. When I first heard about this research, I immediately had to check it out for myself.

A 2019 study found that 7th Day Adventists have lower rates of cancer and live 7 years longer than the average American. In fact, of the cases of cancer documented in the research, many of them are non-life threatening or less aggressive than average cancer statistics. This isn’t the first study of its kind. Previous studies are cited in the article, with similar data and conclusions.

The authors correlate these positive health outcomes to the religious practices of the Adventists, including dietary restrictions, prohibitions on smoking and alcohol consumption, as well as strict observance of the Sabbath. Accompanying these practices are lower levels of stress, which is known in other research to be a preventative factor against various forms of cancer.

But this is where things get really interesting…

Other scholars have gone so far as to suggest that the longer life expectancy of Adventists can be understood by calculating the average number of sabbath days in one’s life. When tabulated, the average number of sabbath days in a person’s life is close to 2,500, which is around 7 years—or the number of years an Adventist is expected to outlive the average American.

Is sabbath directly connected to longer life expectancy?

Possibly, but I don’t think we will be able to know that for sure. It does, however, raise the important question of whether sabbath could have positive health outcomes for people.

Give It a Try

As the old adage says, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water!” It’s a ridiculous thing to say, but applies in this case. I think it is ridiculous to throw the idea of sabbath out the window simply because of its religious connotations.

I encourage you to find a way to incorporate sabbath into your life. Choose one day per week where you will shut off your phone and disconnect from the constant busyness of the world around you, and instead choose to rest and celebrate the goodness of life. It will take some planning, and some trial and error, but I’m certain you will enjoy it.

Sabbath is my favourite day of the week, and I hope it will become yours too.