If you died today the world would go on without you.

How does this make you feel? Really feel? Some people call that statement a “no brainer” while others find it offensive to even suggest such a thing and still others fall somewhere between the two on the spectrum of opinion.

It is true though. If you disappeared tomorrow the world would go on without you. The people you know and love would too. They have to. The world has to. It is the nature of things – always moving, never stopping, leaving everything behind.

The thing is while many people may assent to the fact that the world, their job, their loved ones, friends, family etc. will go on when they stop people do not seem to carry this practical knowledge into their day to day lives. That is to say not many people live their lives as if the world cannot survive without them.

You know what I speak of. You may have a boss who never leaves the office. He or she stays in and works through lunch. They work late. They bring their work home with them. They are praised as paragons of hard work but in reality they simply do not believe that the business could survive without them and one day they will find themselves a hard working corpse disappointed that the business continues on.

““Be still, and know that I am God…” – Psalm 46:10

Stillness can lead to knowledge of God.

When was the last time you were still other than sleeping? When did you truly rest without your brain running in overdrive to compensate for a lack of physical activity?

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” – Genesis 2:2-3

God rested. God rests. Why? God is our example and so we rest because God rests. But why? God requires no rest. It is not simply to refresh after being tired. Why not keep on creating? Notice that creation continues on the path God set while God rests…it does not collapse. God can step back from the work of creation and enjoy that which was created. Can we?

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor 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 male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” – Exodus 20:8-11

Israel has just come out of 430 years of bondage in Egypt and God commands them to rest. How good is that? Like water in the desert surely. Rest God says…recreate your selves in my image. Enjoy family, friends, creation and the goodness that permeates all things because I made them.

Rest.

It is a whispered word to a worn soul.

r e s t

I cannot rest someone says. I cannot leave. The shackles of work, family, and worldly responsibility require me to be working.

This is arrogance. This is death. To not rest is to hasten your own end and encourage others to do the same. Worse still it is to stand before God and say “I MUST work. You do not understand. You cannot comprehend.”

It happens in ministry all the time. Pastors work and ministry volunteers work and they work and work and work and are lauded by the congregation who in turn see the example set before them and do the same in their spheres of influence. It is a vicious cycle which leads pastors, volunteers and congregants to believe that without them they church will fail.

Do you hear the lie in that? Do you hear the arrogance and pride? Without me the church cannot survive. God is not capable of maintaining his house without me. God is not strong enough.

So the cycle of effort, abuse and works continue unabated to the great pleasure of the enemy and pastors burnout and fall, volunteers quit and leave the church and the world is given an image of Christ that is false.

I was once told that ministries have a resurrection life cycle – that is they are born, live, thrive, die and are resurrected as something wonderful and new. Unfortunately we are very much like the apostles in that we refuse to allow death to enter into our ministries. Like Peter we would take up a sword and strike down any who would threaten our ministry.

We fail to see that without death the ministry cannot be reborn. Our arrogance and pride whisper in our ears that if we do not work harder people will call us lazy. They will say we are not good enough. We worry that our congregation may get smaller as if God cannot transform the world through one humble tool as God has done so many times before. No – we think – God requires a megachurch; God requires hundreds and thousands; God requires…God requires…

God requires nothing.

God gives everything.

We must change our thinking.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” – Romans 12:2

We are to be tools in the hands of God allowing God to work through us in the world; if we are set down for a time to refresh and rest; If we choose to end the day at 5 p.m. and leave the laptop at home; if we decide we need a vacation despite the urgency of the time…God will continue until we return.

We do not fall into laziness because God will do everything, rather we recognize the incredible honour of being used by God; of being tools in God’s hands and we seek after it with all our hearts…but…we always remain vigilant lest pride sneak up on us and tell us that what is being accomplished is by our own hands…that first whisper which sets us on the road to works filled oblivion.

Ministries may die; sales may slow down but life – real life – will take root and grow as we find that ever elusive guilt free refreshment of sabbath.

Why do we work? What are you trying to accomplish that God cannot do in God’s own time?

If we tell ourselves and others that we must do; that our work must continue; that we must accomplish and that if we do not things will not go as they should then God will test that hypothesis. God will say “let us see how well you do on your own in this thing…work as hard as you can and let us see if you build the tower to Heaven without me.”

The spirit of God whispers to us in the quiet and says “peace…be still and know that I am God.”

Are you too busy to hear?