Getting Started: What is the longest you have ever stayed awake? Why?
Digging In: As you read the following texts, identify what we can learn about resting one day a week.
Genesis 1:31-2:2
1. Why did God rest on the 7th day? (Remember, it wasn’t because he was tired.)
Exodus 20:8
- This is one of the longest commandments of the 10. Why was so much detail needed?
- When you were growing up, was there any attempt to keep one day a week as a day of rest? If that was Sunday, what was different about Sunday?
- Do you attempt to keep one day a week as a day of rest?
- What is the biggest obstacle for you and your family to make one day a day of rest?
- Who in your household would struggle the most with one day of rest?
- Why do we feel we need to fill every moment of every day with activity?
Psalm 46:1-11
- Verse 10 isn’t exactly about “resting”, but it is about being “still”. Why are we invited to be “still”? What does being “still” before God look like for you?
Matthew 11:28-30 (the “rest” spoken of here goes beyond physical rest.)
- The idea of “rest” is repeated in this passage. Why is finding rest such an attractive invitation?
- What are the things that make a person feel weary and burdened?
- What are the things in your life that make you feel weary and burdened?
- Why does Jesus include the teaching that he is gentle and humble in heart? How does that help us respond to his invitation to learn from him?
- Taking Christ’s yoke has to do with living in obedience to him and his way of living. How does living Christ’s way give us rest? How is not living Christ’s way exhausting?
What changes need to happen in your life to live a more rest-filled life? How can we pray for one another to position ourselves to rest?