I first met Shelley when we were paired together on a special project. I had recently joined the company full-time, while she was working there as a freelancer. It didn’t take long for me to recognise her creativity, sharp wit and genuine passion for design. But it was a spontaneous dinner after work one evening that transformed a professional connection into a close friendship.
That night there was the usual small talk but also a willingness to talk about deep topics. Although Shelley lived two hours away, we found many ways to stay in touch with each other. During Covid-19, when she decided to move to another state, I wondered if we could maintain the friendship.
People often say long-distance relationships don’t work. But I was determined that distance wasn’t going to keep me from one of my best friends. We realised that if we wanted to maintain our friendship, we would need to be intentional. So we made a simple plan: once a week, at a specific time, we would catch up. We would share what had happened in our lives, talk about our victories and struggles, laugh about funny moments, and encourage each other through difficult ones.
The weekly catch-ups weren’t obligations. Neither of us felt pressured to attend—we looked forward to them. They were moments of connection in a world that often feels rushed and fragmented. In fact, whenever circumstances prevented us from meeting, we felt it. Something seemed missing from our week. It wasn’t because we were checking a friendship box or fulfilling a duty. We simply enjoyed being together. Our friendship was strengthened because we consistently made time for each other.
the Sabbath
Reflecting on those weekly meetings helped me understand something profound about the seventh-day Sabbath.
If you are not familiar with the Sabbath, here is a rundown. Starting from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, Sabbath observers stop their work and spend the day in worship, community and personal devotion. It is a standing appointment. It fills our need for quality time with God.
The Sabbath was established long before the nation of Israel existed, long before there were commandments carved in stone and long before religious traditions developed around it. The Bible tells us that after six days of Creation, God rested on the seventh day, blessed it and made it holy.
This is significant.
God didn’t need rest because He was exhausted. An all-powerful Creator doesn’t get tired. Instead, God set apart the seventh day for relationship. Before sin, sacrifice or suffering existed, there was the Sabbath. Imagine Adam and Eve waking up in the Garden of Eden to their first full day of life. It wasn’t spent working, building or achieving. It was spent with God. The first thing humanity experienced was relationship. This tells us something important about God’s priorities. Before God asked humanity to do anything for Him, He invited them to be in His presence.
love, not coercion
By the time Jesus started His ministry on earth in the first century, religious leaders had added layers of regulations to Sabbath observance. A day that was meant to bring joy became a source of anxiety for many. Jesus challenged this mindset. He declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). In other words, the Sabbath exists for our benefit. If someone told me I had to spend an hour each week with Shelley or suffer punishment, our friendship would lose something essential. Relationships thrive on love, not coercion.
Shelley and I chose to meet once per week because we valued our friendship. It doesn’t mean we didn’t communicate on other days of the week, but we tried to honour the weekly appointments.
I believe the Sabbath is more important today than ever before.
God set apart the seventh day for relationship.
We live in an age of constant connectivity, but we don’t feel connected. Smartphones make it difficult to find downtime. Social media competes for our attention every waking moment. Notifications, emails, deadlines and endless streams of information fill our days. We may feel busier than previous generations, but we also feel less fulfilled. We may have hundreds (or thousands, or even millions) of followers on Instagram or TikTok, but struggle to develop authentic friendships in real life.
an invitation
Every Saturday, every seventh day, God invites us to stop, take a break and rest—to enjoy quality time with Him and with one another. He invites us to remember that we are more than workers, consumers and achievers. We are His children. He knows what we need.
Sure, we can pray, worship and read the Bible on any day. But the Sabbath provides something unique. It is a dedicated time intentionally set aside for relationship. God desires more than occasional conversations squeezed into busy schedules. He wants our attention and our hearts.
Just as a healthy friendship deepens through consistent time together, our relationship with God grows when we regularly create space for Him. The Sabbath can be a weekly opportunity to reconnect, reflect and realign.
We can thank Him for His blessings, talk about our challenges and remember His faithfulness. Sabbath is more than a memorial of Creation—it is a little taste of God’s coming kingdom. In fact, the prophet Isaiah tells us about the Sabbath when he describes our future in heaven: “ ‘As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me . . . so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,’ says the Lord” (Isaiah 66:22,23). In a world filled with division, conflict and exhaustion, the Sabbath gives us a glimpse of the rest God wants us to have forever.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that many people have never experienced the Sabbath as God intended. They have encountered rules and restrictions, but they have missed out on the gift. Even more than we treasure catching up with friends, God treasures His weekly appointment with His children.
If you feel like something is missing in your life, maybe God is calling you to think about the weekly seventh-day Sabbath—it is His special appointment with you.
