There is a time to work and a time to rest. A time to sacrifice our blood, sweat, and tears and a time to leisurely enjoy the fruit of our journey. And such a celebration is not a mere optional luxury, but a way for us to remember and practice living in the fullness of God’s grace. We’re prone to become over reliant on our own self-efforts otherwise.
To be sure, the mark of a kingdom man is not just in his willingness to work hard and lay down his life for others. It’s also in his ability to enjoy and drink deeply of the life Christ came to give us. And intentional moments of rest and renewal, recovery and restoration is our path toward this end.
We’ve made an idol of our strength when we’re always grinding and feel we can never stop. And while initially we might feel very productive, eventually we start to burnout and become ineffective. Our work and our relationships suffer when we don’t have an off switch.
For instance, as the body needs regular rhythms of sleep, so our souls need regular rhythms of joy and delight to be refreshed. And we cannot accomplish the work God has given us to do without this. And even nature teaches us this lesson, as winter is a season of rest before the work and rebirth of spring. As much as we might like a perpetual summer, this is not how God has designed life to work.
All the same, rest here is not just the absence of work – begrudgingly waiting until we can start \ again. It is a time to bask in God’s grace – reflecting on and expressing our deep gratitude for what he has done through us and has allowed us to experience. Whatever it looks like in practice, it brings our eyes back to God in praise.
In the end, work hard and learn to leisurely enjoy the fruit of your efforts. This keeps you centered on God’s grace rather than your own efforts, while also refreshing your soul and preparing your heart to hear clearly the next adventure God is calling you to enter.
Photo by taylor hernandez on Unsplash
