Are You Resting?

You and I are finite, and God made us that way on purpose. We need rest. We need food. We need water. We need time to relax, and reflect, and re-center. None of us were made to go and go and go. I have heard leaders and even pastors say something along the lines of “I’ll rest when I die.” And that may sound sexy in today’s hustle culture, but honestly it’s stupid and unbiblical.

Kelly Kapic comments: “We have often tried to make machines that are like humans, but now we often expect humans to be like machines.” [1]. But God didn’t make us as machines. And we can’t do everything. And he doesn’t want us to try to do everything. 

One of the ways God is trying to signal to us that we need to rest is the idea of sabbath. At the very beginning of Bible we read about the creation of the world, and how after creating the world in six days, God rested on the seventh day. The 10 commandments outline that this weekly day of rest is a pattern for us to follow. God didn’t actually need to rest—he never gets tired—but he gave us a pattern to follow because we do get tired, and we do need rest.

Now . . . there are lots of strong opinions about what it means to obey the Sabbath, and whether the Sabbath is on Saturday or on Sunday. And I have opinions, and you may have opinions, but that’s not what I want to focus on here.

The point I want to make is that you and I need to rest regularly. We need to cease from our work. We need to remind ourselves that we can’t do everything and that God doesn’t expect us to do everything. And we need to refocus our lives on Jesus, who is actually everything we need. 

Pete Scazzero explains how the world often thinks about rest and how the Bible presents the idea of rest with these two graphics: [2]

Notice that the pattern in the world (and that we are often guilty of), is to work and work and work until we nearly burn out, and then we vacation. And if we’re honest, sometimes be come back from vacation more tired than when we left. The biblical pattern, on the other hand, is to develop a weekly rhythm of work unto the Lord, and then rest as we remember that God is truly in control, and we can trust him.

Scazzero explains: “All work — paid and unpaid — is good, but it needs to be boundaried by the practice of Sabbath. The problem is . . . that we allow our work to trespass on every other area of life, disrupting the balanced rhythm of work and rest God created for our good” [3].

So let me ask you, are you sabbathing? Are you resting in Jesus regularly? Are you remembering that everything won’t fall apart if you stop and rest? God gave us the sabbath because he loves us. Let’s rest weekly. Let’s rest in Jesus.

- Ben

[1]. Kapic, Kelly M.. You're Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God's Design and Why That's Good News (p. 126). (Function). Kindle Edition. 

[2]. Scazzero, Peter. The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World (p. 145). (Function). Kindle Edition. 

[3]. Scazzero, Peter. The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World (p. 146). (Function). Kindle Edition.