Weekly Blog - 5 June 2023 - Rest and Relaxation
Summer holidays
As the British summer starts this month in June, the weather continues to improve, and schools begin their last half term before the summer break, many of us will find our thoughts turning towards a break or holiday in the summer. Having a proper break, and time to rest and relax is more important than ever in our modern high pressured world. For many, work is ever more intense and competitive, working hours get longer and longer, and life keeps on getting fuller and busier. On top of that, as Christians many of us end up putting even more pressure on ourselves. We push ourselves to fill our lives with service to God, serving in our church, sharing our faith with others, fighting social injustice, eliminating poverty, restoring the environment. Those are all good things, and absolutely what Arise is supporting Christians to do. But as part of our walk of discipleship with Jesus we are also taught to rest and relax, and to ensure when we do work we do it in the right spirit.
The Bible’s approach to work and rest
One of the areas that a major report from Arise, the Arise Manifesto, looks at in detail, is what the Bible teaches us about our walk of discipleship (Arise Manifesto, pg 47 – 78). As part of that, it considers Christian attitudes to work and rest. Throughout the Bible, the people of God are taught to be hard working. Work, whether paid or voluntary, is good, and it is healthy for us to work hard and well, with purpose, rather than live lives of dissolute self-centred leisure. Paul tells us, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (Col 3: 23). However, this is always to be balanced with significant times of rest, relaxation, time off work doing the things we enjoy and long periods of holiday and celebration. God made us to both work hard, and to enjoy times of rest and relaxation to re-charge. God is a God of fun, laugher, joy and delight, as well as challenge and hard work. The Sabbath model of six parts work, to one part rest, (with significant extra holiday thrown in on top) is a good ratio to follow. From the earliest times, God’s people were encouraged “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.” (Ex 23: 12) Whether for you that means specifically resting one day a week or not, the overall principle that we need significant times for rest, sleep and relaxation is clear (Arise Manifesto, pg 55 – 56). This doesn’t necessarily mean an expensive holiday. For many that is not an option, and for many others we will not want to fly to go on holiday, in order to keep our impact on the environment down (Arise Manifesto, pg 69). We can all build a lot of rest, relaxation and fun into our lives without leaving home.
The right attitude
Much of our approach towards rest and relaxation stems from whether we have a right understanding of our role as part of God’s kingdom work. We are all called to do all we can to roll out the Kingdom of God, and help bring about transformation in our lives, in our communities and in the word. We each have an important and unique role to play. But ultimately this is God’s work not ours. He is in control. We are each but a small part of his plan. It’s not all dependent on us. It won’t all fall apart if we take time to rest (Arise Manifesto, pg 1 – 9). At the end of the day, all any of us can do is pray and do the best we can with the time and resources we have. The rest is up to God. And the best use of that time and those resources includes building in significant time for sleep, rest, relaxation and fun. God built us that way. We can’t function without it. Embrace it and enjoy it. So as we head into the summer, let’s work hard to build the Kingdom. But let’s also take time to have a break, rest and relax, with friends, with family, in whatever way works for you. We all need it.
Find out more
Find out more about how God is at work in the world, and the role we all have to play in that work, in the Arise Manifesto. This report is Arise’s big picture, researched, Biblical, holistic and practical vision for a better world. It looks at what the Bible says, and what we can learn from the best data and the world’s leading experts on the five major areas of evangelism, discipleship, social justice, development and the environment. It then draws these lessons together into a practical road map for the changes we need to see in our world, which the Arise movement campaigns to achieve.
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