If there's anything tech directors aren't good at it is slowing down and resting. The rate and pace of technology and ministry can be so fast. As soon as you finish one thing there are three more things on the horizon. It can feel like if you stop to take a break you will fall so far behind you will never be able to catch up again.
I think part of this is because we feel the weight and importance of what we do. Yes, it is technology. Yes, it is changing at break-neck speeds. But also it is the lives and souls of men, women, and children who are looking for hope, peace, and guidance for their lives.
... if we honestly want to follow God's example then we should integrate patterns of rest into our lives.
Many of us wear our busyness and pace of life like a badge of honor. We like to appear busy because then we feel important and like we are contributing significantly to God's Kingdom. But if we honestly want to follow God's example then we should integrate patterns of rest into our lives.
On the seventh day of Creation, God rested. Not because He was tired, but to foreshadow the rest that He would give us through Jesus Christ. When Jesus walked this earth He did not try to live up to man's interpretation of the Sabbath. He simply embodied Sabbath-rest.
This rest that Jesus gives us is not based on a day of the week, but it's based on the rest that Jesus gives us from our labors of trying to measure up on our own standards. And He is inviting you and me into that rest.
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest. -Hebrews 4:9-11 (NIV)
What are we doing to enter that Sabbath-rest that God has for us? Are we taking regular time for reading the Word, for prayer and reflection? Are we making sure that we have down time in our lives? Or are we just running full-throttle all the time?
The growth and expansion of the church depends more on the work of Jesus than on the work of me.
As important as ministry is, God never intended us to do it without rest. He has instructed us to have rhythms of rest in place in our lives. If you feel yourself burning out, being overwhelmed by stress, or feeling angry with the people around you, it might be time to step back. Maybe it is time to take a day to reflect and realign yourself with the God who created rest.
I believe that God can accomplish far more through us when we are resting in Him than we can accomplish in our own effort and striving. The growth and expansion of the church depends more on the work of Jesus than on the work of me. We are called to work hard, but we are also called to come to Jesus with our burdens and weariness—and He will give us rest.
