Delete the Old Data for Sabbath-rest

Are you an email deleter or an email archiver? Me, I’m an email archiver. Well, until recently. You see, in the last year, we have switched from Android and Google operating systems to Apple. I know I could carry over my habits from my former life into the Apple world, but I’m also one who tries to immerse myself into the new experience, whatever said experience is. So, in my rounds of importing, adapting, and navigating what is seemingly a different language, I have found myself staring at my inbox.

I’ve had my Gmail account for over a decade. Over ten years of archiving rather than deleting. Whenever I would get an email, I hang onto it just in case I wanted to revisit the sale going on at my favorite grocery store. Or, what if I need to reference that conversation with my son’s teacher five years ago? I know, I know…they could just stay archived, right? I could just let them sit and take up space for years and years. I find myself in this tug of war over the clean-up in front of me or to allow my old information to take up space.

“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.” Hebrews 4:9-10

Sabbath-rest. This is a rest I can only experience through God. For a long time, maybe like you, I associated “Sabbath” with Sunday, a day off work. Sunday is a day to catch up on errands or things around the house, right? Admittedly, days off was something I didn’t practice, not even in the “going through the motions” sense. I’ve gone through several stints in my life in which I worked two jobs, often working seven days each week. You see, I thrived on being needed and the affirmation I received from my work. I didn’t often have to make decisions, which I was deathly afraid of, because, at work, they told me what to do. Even when I crawled my way into leadership or manager roles, my decisions were always black and white because I was an ambassador for the company, which took away my burden to make my own decisions.

My desire to have everyone else tell me what was right and what was wrong lasted long past my twenties and into my mid-thirties. Dare I say, I have only even begun to recognize my decision-dependence as of the last twelve months—all these decisions made by others I have archived. I have put some into neat and organized folders like Career, Home, Parenting, and Church. Others I have dumped into the recesses of my mind, heart, and soul by just pushing it to the side, refusing to acknowledge the space these still held inside of me.

I have archived information in my brain for thirty-eight years, which reinforced my need and dependence for others to tell me right from wrong. I took their opinions as law and spun myself into circles, trying to fit into their mold. I could not enter into Sabbath rest because I didn’t think I could rest from my works. You see, I always had to be revisiting the information I stored. I kept referring back to the data to make decisions, even though that data was outdated and incorrect, to begin with. It wasn’t until I refused to accept the old data at face value that I began to question if that data was even worth hanging onto. It wasn’t until I started hitting the delete button on the old, archived data that I discovered space. And in that space, I discovered freedom, peace, joy, and - yes - Sabbath-rest.

“Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” Hebrews 4:11

The author of Hebrews reminds me in this last thought that it takes effort to enter into His rest, and I must strive for this. It takes effort to delete the old, archived information to create space to truly enter into God’s rest. This is not only my benefit but also for the benefit of those around me that my example may lead those I love most closer to knowing God more fully and striving to enter their own rest. This is Christ-life - striving to be more like Him so that others may see this example and do likewise.

I admit and repent of my disobedience in keeping tidbits of the past that kept me tied to my former self. So, I will continue to do the work. I will delete one old piece of information at a time, holding it loosely through the lens of my Savior as He kindly tells me what a part of His story in me is and what is outdated information no longer needed in my life. He shows me the junk I’ve held onto needlessly and graciously whispers It’s time to let that go. In finally putting that former self to death, including deleting all the old data associated with it, I have experienced a new Sabbath-rest I couldn’t have imagined even one year ago from today.

What old data do you have archived away that you haven’t taken the step to delete yet? What does that old data prevent you from doing?

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