"The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered." Proverbs 11:25
The word PAUO is the Greek word used to translate Sabbath from the Old. It means quite literally to stop. Cease Movement.
However, Paul uses another word: ANAPAUO--literally to stop again. To re-stop. The interesting thing is that Paul doesn't command the Christians to stop, or stop again! Instead, Paul praises those people in his life who have "ANAPAUO"ed him--caused him to cease, to stop again. We translate this "refresh"
We do not get our Sabbath rest by greedily protecting our time. We do not get our Sabbath rest by hiding away in a fortress away from the distraction of other Christians. We do not even get our Sabbath rest by abandoning our commitment to our fellow Christian to go be with God in nature just like our favorite modern thinker Emerson.
We gain our Sabbath rest by first giving it to someone else. Water and we WILL BE WATERED. We gain our opportunity for Sabbath by first being a servant, and allowing other saints to come alongside us and refresh our hearts when we need it most.
Nature is great, as is solitude, but neither one compares to the rest we find when we lean in and rest in each other.
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