It’s Monday morning and you are tired. You get to the office, already dreading the day ahead, when suddenly you remember you forgot to print the reports for your boss. You rush over to your computer. It is fifteen minutes before the big meeting. You open your computer and try to access the file. Nothing is working. “What is wrong with this machine?” You finally decide to restart your whole system. Slowly but surely, the system begins to open up. You are barely able to get everything printed that you need, but you make it. Your week has officially begun. Your week is as busy as ever, and you promise yourself that this weekend you are going to get some rest. One activity leads to two, maybe three. Church services on Sunday are followed by more activities Sunday night. It is now Monday morning again.
Many people rush through life, day in and day out, and they never take time to rest. Sooner or later, if we do not take care of ourselves, we find ourselves like that old computer on Monday morning, in desperate need to be shut down and restarted. As a Christian, living a life that is so focused on the next activity hurts more than just our physical lives. Our spiritual lives begin to take a back seat to everything else, and eventually we find ourselves looking back, “Wondering how did things go so wrong?”
Jesus taught many great lessons while He was here on the earth that can help us as we live our lives. These principles are applicable for day-to-day living and for those times where we need a good reset. Here are just a few. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” We see in this verse that the rest that we all truly need can be found in Christ, but we need to come to Him. Jesus went off by Himself in Matthew 14:23 after the feeding of the five thousand. Here we see specifically that He went off by Himself to pray. Prayer is how we come to Christ and take to Him our cares.
However, we need more than just rest and prayer. In Matthew 11:29 when Jesus was letting us know how we can find true rest, He gave us some instructions, “learn from Me.” As Christians today, we learn from God by studying His Word. As we study His Word and grow in faith, we become better prepared to take on each day. Yet, that still leaves the question of our busy and over scheduled lives. What do we do about that? In Matthew 6:33 we read, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” In our lives, we are to be focused on God and less on the cares of the world. When we get distracted by the world instead of on the things of God, our spiritual lives will suffer, and we will be in need of a good restart. Each day we should take time to be alone with God in prayer and in the Word. As we plan our lives, we need to always remember to put God first. Lastly, we must all remember to take time to rest. All of these things will help us in life and will help us as we live for Jesus.
