Rest - the critical factor

As I said - when I speak about rest I’m speaking as much to myself as to anyone else – it’s a continual challenge.

Biblical Foundation:
This material will be very familiar to most but it is important to look at the basis for what we believe about rest. It is right at the centre of the beginning of our world, in creation.

“1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” Gen 2:1-3

God himself took a day off after creating. He had a break. He paused. This is picked up in the Old Covenant – in the Ten Commandments.

“11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Ex. 20:11

Rest. A break. A pit stop. The New Testament picks up the Sabbath principle. It does not connect it with a particular day of the week but we know that in the life and three year ministry of Jesus that He withdrew, He prayed, He drew on refreshment.

I believe that if we rest more we will be stronger in God, we will be more effective in caring for our families and we will be more fruitful in the churches we lead. Many of us think that if we worked a little harder we would be more fruitful – I’m saying that rest is the critical factor.