In a conversation with a fellow believer, an executive who loves the Lord and knows the scripture well was reviewing with us about the upcoming themes for our publication and the relevance of the topics for his workforce, the dialogue came to an abrupt halt when we mentioned this issue. “Rest?!” he said. “I want people to work, not rest. Why would I want them ro read about rest?”

Good question. In our world of work, what is rest good for? “Work” is a verb, an action word and so is “Rest”. Both actions require deliberate focus to succeed. But if history and experience are valid indicators, resting well often demands greater effort than working well.

Rest is difficult. Not because we disdain the concept in theory, but because the practical consequences of resting involves not working. It is fruitless to consider rest without measuring its impact on work. "If I rest while others do not," we reason, "then I could very well lose my place in line, squander opportunities or give away money. I risk accomplishing less and receiving mediocre recognition. I might also look lazy and unconnected to my career. Besides, it often seems like the folks who think that rest is a good idea already have made their mark and their money-that they can afford to rest." Rest rarely leaves us with any immediate sense of accomplishment. Rest never catalyzes our endorphins.

A biblical imperative - While sleep is just gaining a kind of cultural cachet, rest always has been biblical. Indeed, few topics receive more attention in the scripture, and that emphasis begins in the inaugural chapter, Genesis 2:2-3: "... God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, ...
Biblical rest and Biblical work are on opposite sides of the same coin. Rest and work go together. It is irrelevant to consider them separately because God always places them side by side.

They form a dyad that drives a seven-day rhythm: work six, rest one.

Twenty-four consecutive hours out of every 168 must be devoted to rest. God even gave that weekly parenthesis a name-the only day of the week not identified simply by a number. He called it the Sabbath.

God's teaching about rest comes in the form of both instruction and example. "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy," He tells us through Moses at the giving of the Ten Commandments. "Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservants, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.

God apparently knew that simply defining and mandating rest would not be enough to persuade us to practice it. So He modelled it Himself.

Three primary words describe the concept of rest in the Old Testament. Sabbath, the Hebrew word Sabbath, implies ceasing or coming to the end of an activity. It means to lay down the plow, to put down the pencil, to turn off the computer. Nuah adds the dimension of settling down or an absence of movement; it is used to communicate security or a sense of inner ease. It also speaks of a psychological release from pressure and tension, as in the rest from war referred to in Joshua 21:43-44: "So the Lord gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their forefathers." Saqat refers to finding tranquillity. It is the kind of rest associated with the absence of external pressure and inner anxiety.

The three terms paint 'rest' as a rich and multifaceted concept. Rest involves something we do, something we experience and something God gives us. We must follow this biblical pattern and be still before God. Only then we will gain a sense of tranquillity and lose the shackles of stress. God provides super-natural security and peace.

Work and rest, not work vs. rest. Work often is made to look like a villain in discussions about rest. Work causes things like strain, tension, pressure and sleepless nights. Rest, on the other hand, is the antidote for anything bad caused by work. If work leads to sickness, then rest is the cure.

That antagonistic relationship between work and rest is found nowhere in the Bible. They compliment each other and contribute very different to a balanced, integrated life. Without work, life lacks crucial elements that are impossible to gain in anyway besides work. Without rest, we lack what only rest can supply. A Biblical connection between rest and work is reflected in word associations like the following:

If we don't work: We are lazy. We don't provide resources. We can't fulfil our calling.
If we don't rest: We are shallow. We don't assess our direction. We can't worship our God.
A godly life is a life of rest. A godly life is a life of work. Scripture places rest and work side by side and sees them both as good.

Principles of rest. The God who created us to do something (our work calling) also called us 10 periodically stop that activity (the Sabbath imperative). That model of rest is summarized in the following principles:

Rest comes up repeatedly in the Old and New Testaments, indicating its importance to God. For example, the prophet Isaiah tells the people of Judah: "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honourable, and if you honour it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." (Isaiah 58:13-14).

Likewise, rest was a frequent topic of discussion during Jesus' ministry. He made rest a priority and encouraged his disciples to do the same, even when work needs overwhelmed the amount of time available to accomplish the task. After the disciples returned from their first mission trip, they "gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going '; that they didn't even have a chance to eat. He said to them, 'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.'" (Mark 6:30-31)

Work always attempts to invade rest. There is always pressure and temptation to allow work to spill over into time set aside for rest. That inclination shows up throughout the Scripture.

Nehemiah strongly rebuked the nobles of Judah and took steps to prevent the Sabbath work from continuing. "When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the gates of Jerusalem to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load should be brought in on the Sabbath day.... (Nehemiah 13:19-21)
Rest requires faith. It takes faith not to work on the Sabbath-faith not to worry about getting left behind, about getting everything done or about the pressure to work from peers who don't observe a biblical rest. As with every other part of our life with Christ, rest requires faith. In fact, the core, the ultimate rest is a faith rest. (Hebrews 4) And a life of faith always is tested in a context where people who don't live by faith seem to do better by violating the tenets of the faith.

A life with Jesus is a life of faith. And faith inherently means that we trust Jesus with the results of actions that might seem illogical. Rest is no different. Based on the Biblical text, rest may take more faith than many other issues we deal with as believers.

ACTION PLAN FOR REST
What action should we take to make rest a reality in our lives? Following are some simple suggestions drawn from Scripture.

Break work projects into five-or six-day segments.
Cease and desist from work.
Reflect on God and cultivate the inner person.
Allow Jesus to help accomplish our work.

Jesus stands, with His arms outstretched, offering to help us with our work. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28•30)

Rest is hard work. Good rest is hard to measure. Unlike work, where everything is measured and measurable, rest is not easily gauged. But if the act of rest is difficult to quantity, the results of a Jesus rest are impossible to ignore.

A lifestyle of biblical rest is just what we need. Demonstration of personal rest in a harried world of work. is what everyone else wants.

Thomas Addington and Stephen Graves are founding editors of The Life@WorK Journal and co-rounder of Cornerstone Group, 8 firm that specializes in organizational change.