[2020 Vision] The Home: Sabbath Sample

Decision for the Decade

We are just a few days into a brand-new decade: not just a brand-new year, a brand-new decade! Think of all that will happen from 2020 to 2030. We will have three presidential elections. A ten-year-old will vote in the final election of this decade. The Astros could win the World Series; the Rockets, the basketball championship. My son is 18; he’ll be 28 by the end of the decade. I could be a grandfather then. My daughter is 11; she’ll be 21. Wow!

This year is the only double-digit year we will experience in our lifetime: 2020. I doubt any of us will be around for 2121. Do we want to be around for 2121? No. Someone who is a baby might want to stick around, but for everyone else, the answer is no. I do not want to live to be 160. 

But for 2020, here is what I want us to do: I don’t want us to start out this Sunday saying, “Let’s go! We’re going to do all these great things.” Most of us have schedules that are packed to the brim. There is no margin in our lives, and we have to pull back a bit to have a restful heart. On the first Sunday of the decade, realize that the greatest impact and blessing in your life could actually come from pulling back and removing some things, rather than adding 10 more things to your life. Remove a little bit from your life, two activities, or five, or whatever number works for you, to have some rest. Get some Sabbath in your life. Isn’t that life-giving? Can you begin the decade with a breath of fresh air? 

Let’s kick off this decade with rest. What might it look like for us if we rested? Would we know God better? Would God do more? Would we see Him open doors for us? God will do some incredible things, but this will not be based upon our effort, but upon our surrender. First, we are going to surrender the decade to God. Next, we are going to ask for faith to rest. And last, we are going to ask for the courage to remove the things that hinder us from spending time with Him and being available to do what He asks of us.