21 Days to Clarity, Day 4: Rest

For Day Three, Click Here

It’s Sunday. Not only that, but it’s the Sunday that comes at the end of a long holiday weekend. A holiday weekend that brings with it the largest meal, the biggest shopping day, and the busiest travel day of the year.

For me it also included 10 hours in a van with my husband and children, 6 loads of laundry, 3 days of visiting with our siblings and parents, 2 days of decorating our house for Christmas… and a partridge in a pear tree.

I’m tired. In fact, because of my tired state, I’m having the hardest time stringing words together into coherent and grammatically correct sentences. It’s tired-times like these, I question whether it’s more important to put up a TIMELY blog post or a GOOD blog post. Because, people, I regret to inform you that tonight’s post will NOT be both timely and good. It's times like this, I just want to crawl into bed and sleep.

No time like the present to talk about REST.




“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:9-11)


Now before we go any further, this is not a post urging you to honor the Old Testament commandment of keeping the Sabbath. I know many Christians who do, and I see a lot of value in having a scheduled day of rest. I’ve even gone through seasons where I practiced this myself. But biblically speaking, the Sabbath was a foreshadowing of Christ. For the New Testament believer, Jesus is our Sabbath. He is our rest. And we have no obligation to honor the Sabbath as outlined in the Old Testament Jewish Law. (see Colossians 2:16-17)

On the other hand, I think it’s foolish not to recognize that God created our bodies to need rest. Whether we schedule it in or not, every 16 hours or so, our bodies require sleep. And if we override this God-given sleep requirement, all sorts of bad things eventually happen within our bodies.

Sleep deprivation has been linked to decreased work productivity, increased stress, poor concentration, increased illness, drug and alcohol use in adolescents, auto and truck accidents, obesity and the complete inability to write a decent blog post. (I covered the subject of sleep deprivation from a fitness perspective here).


Clearly, rest is not a luxury, an indulgence or an intrusion. To the contrary, it is a gift from God, vital to our physical, emotional, mental…and dare I say…SPIRITUAL health.

I have found when I discipline myself to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, I function better on all levels the following day, including spiritually. I have also found when I allow myself periods of guilt-free rest throughout the day—a few minutes to read, a half-hour to nap, 15 minutes to sit on the deck and do nothing but think—I make room for God to speak to me. If I constantly cram more and more activity into the day, (even if the activities are good, godly things), it only serves to exhaust my body.

And in exhausting my body, I ultimately crowd out the voice of the One who calls me to rest.

How do you make guilt-free rest a priority in your life? If you don't, will you start today?

For Day 5, Click Here