Rest is Relevant

I think it’s safe to say that our current culture is not known for rhythms of rest. The opposite may be true, however. Our culture is non-stop; work until you can’t continue, hope you make it to vacation in the summer and make sure you work harder than anyone else. I’m not writing this to say that hard work is a bad thing or should not be something that we teach our children. What I am saying is that rest is relevant. Rest is still healthy. Rest is what will help us be able to finish the work. Rest does not mean you are lazy; rest means you are wise. 

           Although a recent thing, mental health days have been added to several types of jobs. It is clearly understood that sometimes we just need to get away from the stress of our job, whether that is the fast pace or the high stress of it. Mental health days won’t always solve the problem that we might have of not getting enough rest, but it will help de-stress your life a little if you do it right. We need rest from work. We need rest from stress. Therefore, we should all evaluate our daily routines and determine how many mental or spiritual or emotional health days we will need in the upcoming months.

           As you read the creation account, the phrase “there was evening, and there was morning” is repeated. There is a principle we can take from the order in which these two time periods are listed. In the biblical narrative, and the Jewish culture, the evening starts the 24-hour period; it does not start in the morning. What does this principle teach us? It teaches that we should work from our rest, not rest from our work. We start our day with rest and that makes rest more relevant than work.

           Just before Jesus performs the miracle of feeding the 5,000, he told his disciples to get away by themselves to a place that was desolate and rest. Jesus understood how important it was for them to rest. He even made a routine of getting away by himself to have a time of prayer and rest. So, that makes me ask myself: If Jesus got away to rest on a routine basis, what makes me think that I don’t need to do the same? In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus tells us that he will provide rest. He says that we should go to him and we will find rest for our souls. I have a firm conviction that when we find soul rest, we will find all the other types of rest we need.

           Man was created on the 6th day, so that means man’s very first full day after he was created was a day of rest. Man started his existence with rest…

Rest is relevant!

—John