"Stop!"
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When I ask someone, "How are you?" they often answer, "Busy!" When did that become our standard reply? We glorify long hours and exhaustion as badges of honor, as proud of our lack of sleep as our results. How bad is it? For some, it's deadly. A recent study found that overworking kills three-quarters of a million people yearly [1]. In Japan, they have a word for it — Karoshi — "death from overwork." Our last session celebrated work, but that's not all God wants for us. Sometimes we need to stop to appreciate his gifts.
The Big Idea
Work is good, but God also created us to enjoy the sweetness of rest. We serve a God who rested (Gen. 2:1-3). Remember Jesus napping in the boat (Mark 4:38-40)? Or saying," 'Come away ... and rest a while.' For ... they had no leisure*" (Mark 6:31)? God valued rest so much he required work to cease one day a week (Ex. 20:8). Must have seemed shocking to a group of slaves (cf. Deut. 5:15)! We take a day of rest for granted, but it wasn't always this way.
The Sabbath was "a shadow" of Christ (Col. 2:15-17; Heb. 7:12). But it reminds us God wants us to rest. "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). We're valued for more than what we produce. Our work isn't as important as we think; life goes on without us getting stuff done for a while. "It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep" (Ps. 127:2). We can have "sweet" sleep (Eccl. 5:12; Prov. 3:24), trusting God to keep us (Ps. 4:8).
But rest isn't just something we do; it's our security under God's rule (Deut. 25:19; 1 Kings 5:4). It's a mindset we cultivate, waiting for a greater rest (Heb. 4:9-10). Because even now, those who come to Christ rest in Him (Matt. 11:28-30).
The Big Question
What do you learn from God's desire to give us rest?
