Recently, I had a conversation with a writer friend who turned 40 and caught Covid-19. He felt getting older hasn’t been kind to him, I decided to give him a little advice he could trust. It’s the honest advice I wish anyone would’ve given me when I was younger.
Learn how to get plenty of rest to be restored. When I was in my 20s I foolishly believed that I could run 100 miles an hour and still feel fine with 2 to 4 hours of sleep per day to carry me through. I also biked seven days a week totaling about 3000 miles per year, after working out in the gym.
Problem was I could never gain any muscle mass because my body was so worn out. It wasn’t until my best friend and personal trainer explained to me that I was overworking my body and not letting it recover from my workout, he taught me about taking rest days and even rest weeks to steady me.
No matter how hard we push ourselves in the gym, that isn’t where muscle is built, that is where it is broken down—our bodies heal and rebuild muscles while we are sleeping and at rest. I have since learned that sleep isn’t a feeling, but a function. Just like rest, it is an important part to the rhythm of life. Even spiritually, rest is a necessity for growth, I have learned to rest my soul.
We need to understand what rest is and what isn’t, resting does not mean being lazy and doing nothing at all. Per the dictionary, “Cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength. An instance or period of relaxing or ceasing to engage in strenuous or stressful activity.”
Even while we are sleeping our bodies are still working to keep us alive, mainly healing our bodies from the activities of the day, but also regulating hormones, our metabolism, and detoxing our brain and body; our brains grow in silence. Rest was never meant to be a time of laziness, especially for Christians, have a little faith.
After God finished creating the earth, he rested and began a new work on the seventh day, He rested from doing one job, then shifted his focus to the next job. His rest was a transition to the rest of the creation story, God actually created rest on the seventh day as a preparation to do more work. So, we see rest is a type of passive activity.
During the summer most people take vacations, not to go somewhere and sleep all the time in the sunshine, but for a change of pace and scenery. Rest has just as much mental importance as it does physical. Brady Boyd writes in Addicted To Busy, “Living not at full throttle, but at rest. Letting whatever abundance God has in store for me come in, sit down and be at home.”
Mature believers know how to wait to keep things from getting any worse, instead of being lazy, Sunday is a day of refocusing before work is continued. History tells of how the religious Pharisees added to this day of rest by forbidding any movement that could be seen as work, which is ironic because trying not to do anything takes effort.
When our Rabbi, Jesus, showed up He challenged these religious rules. He even rebuked the Pharisees for accusing His disciples of breaking the Sabbath law (Matthew 12:1–8,) don’t worry bout it. Later He even healed people on the Sabbath (12:9-11.) Jesus justified it by saying God is always working (John 5:1 7.)
I want to be clear that I am not saying we must constantly be doing things to be a Christian, quite the opposite. My point is to understand how rest is part of the rhythm of spiritual life. The world says, “Never give up, keep working, keep chasing that dream—keep pounding!”
While Jesus had His earthly ministry, He taught that, unlike the Pharisees, His yoke is easy. There comes a point in a mature believer’s life when they learn to let go and let God, not in a cliché way but literally, Jesus paid for it.
The richest man ever didn’t pursue earthly greatness or riches, he sought wisdom from God—not money. And in his wisdom, he determined that chasing riches and fame was pointless as chasing the wind (Proverbs 23:4-5,) I can relate to that. Sometimes we get so busy doing church things or chasing greatness, we fail to grow spiritually. Leonard Sweet noted, “We are so busy, usually too busy for God.”
One definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. The older I get the more I understand how rest works. I laugh when I see guys at the gym day after day, never changing their workout up.
Remember my workout regimen involves rest weeks between exercise cycles and weekly rest days, by the sixth week of my eight-week cycle, I am burned out. Plus, my body has gotten used to the exercises and I’m no longer getting the full benefit unless they are shocked.
The same principle applies spiritually, staying on the go and doing church things can have the opposite effect and hinder our spiritual growth. Because fully trusting God requires us to let go and rest!
