The Rest Of Your LifeSample

The genius of Genesis

Rick Warren was spot on when he said, “I could imagine God saying to a lot of us, ‘Hey, I'm God, and you're not. You're not the general manager of the universe.’”

Our society so often defines people by what they do. So, when a person is “doing nothing” they can feel a sense of guilt or inadequacy during those periods. Some of us are terrified of people thinking we are slothful. 

But the truth is, we are just as loved by God when we are resting. We are just as whole, just as precious and just as saved. These feelings are not what our Heavenly Father intended for us as His creation. 

Adam’s first day on earth was not spent at the office printing out spreadsheets or writing projection forecasts. Nor was he busy planting seeds, counting snakes and tending to the animals. He was created, then he and Eve and God all put their feet up! As our reading today reminds us, their first day on was a day off. This tells me that God didn’t define Adam by his usefulness. That gives me confidence that God doesn’t judge me by my productivity or my CV either. God doesn’t value me or love me because of the fact that I can work. 

No. He loves me because He made me. 

We can see rest as simply an absence of work, but this robs rest of its power and strength. Rest is not just a negative vacuum – a time of counting the hours before work starts again. A person doing this is not resting from work in his/her mind or her body at all. 

If we see rest and work as opposites, by very definition they are in opposition to one another. They FIGHT. We have to learn to see them as friends that need one another in order to function. We need to realize that we need to rest well in order to live well. We also need to rest efficiently to work effectively. 

· Where do you feel a lack of balance in your work or resting? 

· What could God be nudging you to do about that?

Pray: 

Father, please help me not to try and find my worth in my work. Thank you that I am loved and precious even when I am choosing to be still. Amen