Should I feel guilty when I take a rest?

Many things, like the beauty of a wild flower, loving relationships between people and the gentle whispers of God, can be easily missed by us in our super-busy lives.

By Tain Dao Yang

Friday again

The popular saying "Thank God it's Friday" seems to have within it a note of complaint and helplessness; Americans love to use it to laugh at themselves. Many hard-working Overseas Chinese may feel the same way. Chinese are well-known for their hard work and many of them believe in Anderson's advice: "Success is 1% talent and 99% diligence." These days we make more money, own more and live more comfortably than ever before. But even more, we long to take a rest, just as when we are hungry we long to eat.

A contemporary commentator has even said, "We are so hyperactive these days. Perhaps the only excitement people had in the old days was war. But today we walk fast, we drive fast, we have fast heart beats, and we feel busy all the time. Whether from desire, necessity, self-choice or opportunity, we spend far too much time working. And, intentionally or incidentally, people are always boasting about their busyness. We are ashamed to talk about leisure. The author Tim Hansel even wrote a book named 'When I Rest I Feel Guilty'."

There is no need for me to describe the consequences of being too busy. Rousseau even commented that busy civilized modern man is in danger of becoming a machine with no time to do anything. Nowadays Christians, too, are expected to be involved in meetings, services, preaching the gospel and so on, and really have no peace to simply enjoy times of leisure.

Traditionally the church has always encouraged people to be industrious. The great preacher George Whitefield's response to those who urged him to take a rest was to say, "On this side of eternity, we do not have time to play." It is the norm today for churches to encourage Christians to offer themselves for service. Pastors rarely preach about leisure. However, there are many principles and examples of leisure [cld1]to be found in the Bible. 

Scriptures concerning "enjoyment"

The beginning of the Bible records God's work of creation. A detailed study of Genesis ch.1 and 2 reveals an interesting pattern. As day follows day, the Bible repeatedly declares that "God saw that it was good". "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." This is the feeling that God had after the completion of his work, a sense of satisfaction and joy at viewing something beautiful. The most striking thing is that after the sixth day of creation, "God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made." (Genesis 2:3). Here God established the division of work and rest.

God 'sanctified' the seventh day to make time holy. We may conclude that the "rest" which God took was not "doing nothing", but a time of joy and celebration. When we take a rest, it should be the same. We ought to rest from the work that has occupied our minds. We need to relax from our states of "doing", "gaining", and "consuming" so that we may enjoy and celebrate the things that God has accomplished in our lives.

The Bible confirms that man is meant to experience enjoyment. In the book of Ecclesiastes 11:7-8 it says, "Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. Yea, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all..." In Psalm 37:4 God also commanded us, "Delight thyself also in Jehovah; and he will give thee the desires of thy heart." God's "enjoyment" fills the Bible and it is not hard for us to find the many sources of enjoyment He has provided for us in the world he has created. For instance in Genesis 2:9, "And out of the ground made Jehovah God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food...". This seems to imply that man's ideal environment is not only functional but also aesthetic.

God could just have used mono-color and all the same details in his creation of this world. It was not necessary for there to be such a variety of species and shapes for everything. However, when we look at Nature, we understand that God's work was not only for the purpose of profit. God's creation cannot be evaluated simply on its production rates and efficiency, but also on its wisdom and beauty.

So God does not want us simply to seek for profit in our lives. He also wants us to discover the things in this world that we can enjoy. In this sense, leisure is a way for us to maintain ongoing refreshing contact with God's work.

The Sabbath was God's command to man, and it was given to the Israelites after they came out of Egypt. It represented the consummation of God's salvation. God's people had been released from bondage into spiritual freedom. God's salvation brings rest. To forget to "rest" is to forget God's mercy. This is why in a number of the Old Testament prophetic books people were punished and suffered penalties for disobeying the rules of the Sabbath.

In the Ten Commandments God described many details regarding the origin and rules of the Sabbath. He wants us to realize that neither work nor rest is our ultimate goal. It is only when these two things alternate and interact that they fulfill their purpose. (Exodus 20:8-11). God does not only want man to realize that he needs to rest, but he also wants man to achieve and so to deserve his rest.

Besides the Sabbath, there were other special days recorded in the Old Testament when man was not to labor. For instance, in Chapter 28 of Numbers, the first and seventh days of Passover, and the day of Pentecost were days of holy convocation when "ye shall do no servile work". In Leviticus 25, after 6 years of labor, the seventh year was to be a year for resting. It was called the year of Sabbath, and no-one was to labor or harvest during that year. This was a legitimate right given to man for him to rest.

How to rest

In these days our Sabbath day is Sunday. How do we spend our Sundays? Interestingly, the Bible is silent about this. In Ezekiel 46:3 we are told that we must worship God on this day. Other than that, what else should we do? Traditionally, the people of Israel people were to place an emphasis on joyful celebration; so the Rabbis encouraged people to enjoy good food in their homes.

No matter what you do, God has established the Sabbath for you to be refreshed, to enjoy contentment and relaxation, and for you to put down your burdens. Most importantly, the Sabbath day was to remind us of the happiness our ancestors enjoyed with God in the Garden of Eden, when there was no separation between man and God.

The Sabbath day should also give us hope that no matter how difficult our lives or how hopeless our circumstances may be, our Lord Jehovah will lead us beside still waters to enjoy life's beauty. In Hebrews 4:9-10, we read about the future rest, "There remaineth therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his."

Although the concept of rest is found in many places in the Old Testament, we may be surprised that God's Son, Jesus, was often criticized for His challenges to man's interpretation of the Sabbath. Jesus responded to the Jews' challenge to his working on the Sabbath: "...My Father is still working even now, and so I am working. " (John 5:17)

The impression Jesus gives us is that he worked hard, sometimes even forgetting to eat or sleep. At the same time we may find it hard to believe that during his busiest time, he told his disciples: "...Come away by yourselves to a quiet place, and take a rest for a time. ..." (Mark 6:31) We do not know how Jesus rested, apart from these accounts in the four Gospels of him resting alone in quiet places.

Jesus loved Nature. Was this because of the revelation of God that Nature brought to him ? In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus used the birds of the air and the wild lilies to encourage people not to worry about daily food or clothing. He had observed the natural ease of the birds and the beauty of the wild flowers. When you stop worrying about issues of daily life, you start to appreciate the freedom enjoyed by the wild birds and the flowers. This too is the nature of rest. God commanded that the purpose of our "rest" was neither in order to meet our needs for increased profits, nor to enhance our work efficiency or reward our hard work. The value of "rest" cannot be assessed. It is like "the abundant life" described by Jesus (John 10:10), which cannot be evaluated by secular standards. Many things such as the beauty of wild flowers, loving relationships between people and God's gentle whispers can be easily missed by us in our super-busy lives.

My guess is that the "rest" that Jesus enjoyed is similar to the "retreats" that are part of our church life, a withdrawing from the hurly-burly of society to readjust our inner balance. Ever since the time of the original founder of the Society of Jesus, Ignatius Loyola, many spiritual giants have appreciated the value of solitude. From this perspective, Christians' "rest" should not be for the purpose of being together in groups and having fun, but rather to enjoy inner peace. Reading, listening to music, traveling, and exercising can all be good ways of resting.

Not guilty

Instead of understanding the essence of "resting" as "relaxing", we may say that it is to "enjoy a change": a change of mood, of focus, of life-view etc. Through changes like these, we can be enabled to fulfill God's original purpose for us. In real "rest" we should come to understand the meaning of "holidays" as "holy days". If we do not find the spiritual meaning of resting, "rest" may become simply a means of recovery in order for us to continue in the state of working.

As Christians, do we have to choose between worship and recreation? between joining in a worship service and watching a ball game? or between prayer and shopping? This can be a struggle for many Christians. Perhaps the reason for our confusion is that we have never understood the connection between "worship" and "rest". To "rest" is to temporarily step out of the 'rat-race' in order to discover freedom. "Worship" is the foundation of "rest". Because it is only when someone grasps the reality of the freedom he has in Christ, that he can be released from the fear and guilt of sin. So as we grasp the freedom of the new life, we come to experience the real meaning of "rest".

Some Christians worry that if we spend too much time resting, we may be cutting down on our time for worship of God. They do not understand that the Bible view of time is quite different to our present-day concept. In Ephesians 5:16 we are told to treasure time. This is not because life is short, but because time is related to everything in life. Both are gifts from God. We need to use time wisely in order to please God.

"Resting" is not time for doing what we want, but time to be used seriously. The times Jesus spent preaching the gospel and the times he set apart for prayer were not segments of chopped up time. Work and rest should be in harmony in our lives. Although the Bible does not give us advice about exactly how to rest, it is obvious that God does not want our hours of rest to be filled with feelings of boredom, nor for unhealthy kinds of recreation. Perhaps we can adopt the principles mentioned in Philippians 4:8: "...whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are upright, whatever things are holy, whatever things are beautiful, whatever things are of value, if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, give thought to these things."

If "rest" is not just something for us to enjoy after work, nor a meaningless ornament in a boring life, but a part of God's orderly creation, then every church and every individual Christian should think it through seriously. It is important for us to find ways to have godly "leisure times" since like any other activity in our lives, "rest" is also a moral choice that can fall under God's judgment. At the same time, when we experience God, let us enjoy "rest" without feelings of guilt.

The author is from China. He now lives in Chicago. 
[cld1]I seem to have trouble using "leisure" or "rest" in many places. It is not consistent at all.