Starting a new year is the perfect time to recommit your self to fulfilling goals and agendas. My hope for you is that those goals are the God-inspired purposes for your life. Our lives should express the dreams that God has for us and the fruit that our lives bear should reflect God’s desires for our lives. If you are actively pursuing God’s desire for your life then you will find time for rest in your schedule. If you can’t show rest in your week, you are not aligned with God. It really is that simple.
Rest was important enough for God to demand it in His covenant with His people. (See Exodus 20) Our culture has put God’s law on our scales and balances, minimizing the importance of rest and honoring God with the Sabbath. The biblical reality is that the man who doesn’t rest is disobedient.
But do not confuse the rest that God calls for with inactivity. Simply opening up a day on your weekly schedule and watching football or refusing to wash the dishes is not fulfilling the fourth of the 10 commandments. Those things aren’t wrong, but we are called to honor God with our rest. What does this mean practically? It means that you allow the peace of God to rule in your life when our culture says you need to work to maintain a yard, a lifestyle, a bank account, a reputation, a business, etc instead of rest. It means that your trust in God’s provision for you is more sufficient than any the world would offer. You honor God when you choose to rest in His desire for your life more that working in your own desires for it.
What drives you beyond the point of rest? Are their personal desires that are not aligned with God’s best for your life? Do you feel like the circumstances you are facing demand action, not rest? This discrepancy was active in Jesus day as well. (Mark 4) Caught in a major storm, the disciples acted out of personal preservation by running to wake up Jesus who was asleep in the boat. Why was Jesus sleeping so peacefully in such turbulence? I believe it was because Jesus knew who was in control. His perception of God had infiltrated even his personal comfort in the midst of trials. His ability to rest was directly correlated with his faith in his Father. Peace allowed Jesus not only to lie down, but to sleep! When all you are – your heart, soul, mind and strength – are influenced and impacted by the power of God, you will find that you too can make rest a regular, effective occurrence in your schedule.
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