A Rhythm of Work and Rest
Read Time: 11 mins
Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day. So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.
Genesis 1:31, 2:1-3 NLT
There are a few things we can learn from the creation narrative about the rhythm of rest and work that were designed to sustain. First, we learn that God by nature is creative, and we’re made in His image. God loves renewing, reviving, and redeeming. The creation process in which He takes nothingness and brokenness and transforms it into something that's good, good, and very good shows us what He desires to do with the brokenness in our lives. He desires to plant rivers in the desert and erect highways in the wilderness.
Not only does God love to create, but He has planted that desire in you, too. We are designed to partner with God in His process of renewal. This is why Adam and Eve are called to steward the garden. They’re called to continue the process of creation that God initiated. God makes the animals, but calls Adam to name them. Like with Adam, God has called you to live out your purpose by stewarding the things, people, and places He has called you to hold responsibility for.
The issue is that many of us get overwhelmed with this call. We often struggle not just with the reality of this call but the practicality of it. We don't just find it hard to grasp what were called to create, subdue. We find it hard to recognize how to steward our time, energy, and emotions in the manner God intended. But if we are made to emulate God, we can learn a lot from His creative process, and how we can better live out the lives we have been gifted with.
A Segmented Structure
The first thing we can learn from God’s creative process is His use of limits. Think about it. God could've just snapped His fingers and created birds, bees, trees, and leaves in one day. But He chooses not to. Instead, He divides the process into segments. He eats the proverbial elephant one bite at a time.
If God took it one day at a time, how much more should you? Maybe were getting overwhelmed in the process of building the world God has called us to because we're biting off more than we can chew. Maybe the first step in living out the lives of fruitfulness God has called us to is slowing down and taking it one step at a time.
Many of us can't live up to the level of impact and productivity that God has designed us for because we have no system of segmentation. We have big dreams, lofty expectations, and can clearly see the vision God has placed before us, but we’re constantly paralyzed by fear, overwhelm, burnout, and anxiety. Why? Because we’re doing too much and expecting too much moment by moment. We overburden ourselves.
It may not be possible to wake up at 4 am, have time with God, train for a marathon, work two jobs, go out with friends, do homework for another degree, write a book, serve at church, be a present parent and spouse, read a book, go on a walk, cook and eat three healthy meals a day, clean the house, write two books and get 8 hours of sleep all in one day. But if you did a little at a time, you'd see fruit in each area. Take it one day at a time. Do one thing at a time. Allow the small wins to compound, and over time, you'll see a creation you can be proud of. You can’t do it all in one day. You aren’t called to be more productive than God.
Ok, so we recognize that we can't do it all in one day, but how do we pick what tasks need to be accomplished each day? How do we prioritize? How do we organize? I think it's necessary to adopt a strategy for scaling.
A Scaling Strategy
In the business world, the process of scaling is using strategic systems to increase what you're able to accomplish without also increasing what you have to put in or invest to accomplish that production. It's accomplishing more with less or equal work compared to what you had to do before for the same result. Here’s the issue. God wants us to succeed, but many of us are sacrificing sleep, sanity, and salvation to produce when God doesn’t want us to burn out for the sake of being a blessing. The key to organizing your time, emotional energy, and mental sanity is to know what to prioritize and build from there.
Notice how God forms foundations before filling them. He creates the sky and the sea before making birds and fish. He creates land and vegetation before humans and people who would need them to survive. This is a logical strategy for growth that many of us forget when planning out our lives. What is necessary to be produced as a foundation before we get to the full function?
While growth sometimes forces you to create structures, it's often wise to build foundations before looking for fruit. I get that it may seem boring or slow, but in the same way plants must develop roots before flowers, builders need foundations before the structures we praise above the surface. As you seek to scale, ask yourself if you are building the structures necessary to truly steward what you're building. Prioritize becoming a good husband before getting married. Learn to steward money before it matures. Build the foundation first so that you can handle the fruit.
When you have a clear goal and determine what the necessary foundations are to produce that goal, you can accomplish more in a much more efficient manner than if you were to waste your time with things that may not be as important. I love packing for trips and loading the dishwasher. I know it may sound weird, but these chores are actually very similar. In order to do them successfully, you have to put the big things first and build around them. You’ll run into problems if you start with small things like socks or cups. They aren’t good foundations. Don't make the same mistake in your own life. Build first with what can be built on. Build on a rock and not sand. So what is that foundation? It's rest with Jesus. The priority through which a lasting legacy of productivity can be built on isn't work at all. It may sound counterproductive, but I’d argue that the stone that often gets rejected makes the best foundation. Abiding with Jesus will actually produce more and lasting fruit than the people who prioritize the production of fruit. Sounds risky? Our next point can help me explain.
A Sanctified Sabbath
We see that God recognizes what He is building, divides it into steps that don't overwhelm, and then prioritizes what foundations need to be in place before fruit. But He doesn't just show us how to be efficient in work, He shows a rhythm of rest.
Notice again, God doesn't need to rest in the same way that He doesn't need to break His work into bite-sized chunks. He is doing all of this to show us how the people He creates will best function. The Bible says that after He creates, He acknowledges that what He made is good, and allows that chapter to close before moving on to the next. But notice that when creation is done, He rests.
God doesn't just acknowledge that what He did was good and call it a day, something many of us don't do; He stops. Now this is so significant for us because God didn't need to rest; He's instead showing us what we need, and many of us miss the significance and signal of the gospel that is found in the message of sabbath. Watch this. The sabbath shows us that while God works and then rests, our invitation is to rest and then work. Oh, you didn't catch it. God works from Sunday to Friday. On Friday night, He makes Adam. On Saturday, I can imagine Adam seeing all that God did and wanting to contribute. Maybe Adam asks for the to-do list or some chores to earn his key, but God is already done, so God simply invites Adam go on vacation with Him. Excuse me? Maybe you aren't catching it yet. God spends His time designing and developing all that Adam would need to survive. God hangs the stars and does the math to determine how far Earth needs to be from the sun to not be too hot but also not too cold. God does all the work. God is the one who deserves rest. God is the one who has earned rest. But Adam is invited to rest in the reward created from someone else's work. Maybe you still don't get it. God works a 72-hour week. God deserves a retirement plan and pension because God did all the work. Adam didn't contribute and couldn't if He tried, because the lamb was slain before he existed… I mean, the work was done before he existed. Adam can't earn it or deserve it because before the foundation of the world, God already made a choice to do what Adam couldn't do and pay a price he couldn't pay. So Adam can’t earn or work for this rest because it is simply a gift from God. Adam is simply invited to rest. I mean, I guess God said Adam could manage the garden, but if God did all the work, what is even left for Adam but to rest?
Let me make it crystal clear for you. The sabbath is a reminder of the state of our salvation. You literally didn't have a possibility of working for it, but you’re are invited to rest with Him in His reward. Maybe this is still going over your head because you think man was made to fulfil the requirements of the sabbath when the sabbath was really designed to remind man what was already fulfilled. Maybe you think sabbath is something you use to earn provision when it's really a reminder that you have it. Creation is done. Jesus said it is finished. It's time to rest. Rest with God should not be seen as a reward but a prerequisite. God works, then rests, but Adam and Eve rest before they're called to do anything, and this revelation shifts everything. This is the gospel.
Here's the issue. Many of us think were earning rest. We think we have to fight hard enough, do good enough, or live well enough to earn the blessed assurance of knowing that because Jesus called us, were heirs to what He earned.
Living from Rest
I started this off by talking about how you can live more efficiently and effectively by scheduling and segmenting your time in a strategic way. But you will still live overwhelmed, anxious, stressed, and joyless if you think stewarding your time well is a prerequisite to earning safety and security with God. On the contrary, stewarding our schedule and passionately pursuing our purpose is the fruit of assurance of salvation, not what is needed to earn it.
Go with me to Jesus’ baptism. The Father publicly claims, commends, and shows confidence in the Son before He did anything of significance. Before sermons or miracles, God was proud of Him. God called Him, and God made up His mind about choosing Him. This meant that Jesus was able to live the life He lived as a response to how His Father viewed Him and not as a means to earn anything. Jesus was able to accomplish more from a state of emotional and spiritual rest than a restless identity chasing applause, affirmation, and approval. Adam, too, was able to steward and rule from a place of restedness than from a mindset of trying to earn it. God wants you to live from the same place. Ephesians one says that before He formed the world, He chose to adopt you and decided that He would see you as holy and without fault. So as a response, you live a life of praise. Paul, in the letter to the Romans, celebrates the gift of salvation that has been bestowed upon humanity, and then says, therefore, give yourself in worship as a response. The life abundantly Jesus has called you to is made possible because of all He’s given you. The fruit we desire to see doesn't earn our ability to abide; it's the result of it. You can stop striving in your own power. You can rest.
So if you’ve been fighting to look good enough, sound good enough, act good enough, or be good enough for God, I bet you're tired. If you aren't sure of your salvation, I bet you're weary. If you've been fighting to reach an unrealistic standard while trying to cover your mistakes from the people you perceive as perfect, I know you are burdened. But the good news is that Jesus says come. He says to find a home in Me. Find identity in Me and not your work, and I'll give you rest.
It hurts my heart that so many Seventh-Day Adventists brag, boast, and find identity in the day they worship but ignore the gospel it teaches. If you still think your right doing, “perfect” living or superficial obedience is earning your restful salvation, you’re missing the point. God wants us to see the human condition as early as Genesis. We have been offered rest, and it's not because of our works but because of His righteousness. We need to find our identity in that.
Anxiety flees when you stop trying to do it on your own and find rest in Jesus. Insecurity melts when you realize that God has already called and chosen you in spite of you. The desire to earn and obtain approval from a constantly changing external standard leaves when you realize youre already chosen. So do you want rest? Do you want to work from a place of rest and not work in order to obtain rest?
What I love about the Genesis account is that God ends His days of creation by reminding us that the evening and the morning closed the day and brought on the next. We get a clear ending for Sunday through Friday, but we don't get this closing motif after the introduction of sabbath, and I don't think that's an accident. Why? Because while the literal day may have ended, the age of rest didn't. We are reminded in the book of Hebrews that the promise of rest still stands, and we are invited to enter it today.
Don't put it off. Walk into that rest today by surrendering and accepting the fact that He has provided for you. Let go of the strain to do it on your own. Stop fighting. The book of Ephesians says that because of the victory of Jesus, we are seated with God in heavenly places. Why is this significant? Because kings sit down to rest after they win a war. God won, now you can rest. Like with Adam, He did the work, and you get to rest with Him in the reward. Isn’t that a good deal?
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