“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 2:2-3 NLT

Work…The Father works and so does Jesus (John 5:17). God is a Spirit (John 4:24), yet decided to take some time to rest after creation and sanctified the day (see today’s text above). Jesus was all about the Father’s business during His earth walk (Luke 2:49), yet He saw the need for rest and often retired just to do that (Mark 4:38). 

There would always be something people demand from us, sometimes at the expense of our rest (which could eventually be at the expense of our health); Jesus wasn’t exempted from this either. Some crowd wanted Him to remain with them at some point, but He replied that He had to preach the gospel to other towns too (Luke 4:42-44). After sending His disciples on a mission trip, He recognised they needed some rest after working, so took them away from the crowd to get just that (Mark 6:30-31, 45).

There’s nothing sinful about taking some time off when needed; you need to recoup! After all, you’ll only be following the Father and Jesus’ footsteps. If for example, you work for a company and fail to get the much needed rest you need and God-forbid you break down, someone would probably be hired to replace you! If you’re self-employed, your business would face much risk, apart from implications to your family, finances etc. Yes, there are occasions where the demand on us is greater than usual and we need to do more for some end, but this isn’t usually the norm; at least, it shouldn’t be.

Although our bodies are earthbound, they still remain the home of our spirits for now and should be cared for. I believe that’s why the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write the verse below:

“And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).” 1 Thessalonians 5:23 AMP

Would we let just anyone drive up a bulldozer and strike at our physical houses, even if it’s just in little bits? Of course not, because the collective impact would lead to the house collapsing one day. Similarly, we shouldn’t let anything make a habit of depriving our bodies of much needed rest, especially after times of increased pressure and stress. This does not mean we let our canal nature dictate our lives (Romans 8:7). That’s the Holy Spirit’s job and He’ll do that primarily through our regenerated spirit (Romans 8:13-14; Proverbs 20:27). Don’t be surprised if He tells you to get off social media, drop that gadget or pass up that invite to just hang-out; God cares for us like that and can request we do so deepending on our need.

Take sometime to rest; if God needed to, so would you!

God bless you🙂

© Lydia Ndagilaya for PneumaWord

#DailyWordSnippet #WordSnippet #Encouragement #Bible #WordOfGod #JESUS #PneumaWord