When the Twelve returned from their tour with Jesus (Mark 6: 7, 12, 30), their Master pulled them aside. He modeled a habit that many of us could stand to practice more—the habit of rest.
Given the pressure we often feel to do our best, or even to outwork and outperform our coworkers, rest may seem like the last thing to pursue. But God wants us to embrace His standards, not those of our culture. He values work. And he also upholds our need for downtime. Rest is something God Himself does (Genesis 2:2). He also commanded the Israelites to rest regularly each week (Exodus 20: 8-11).
We need to look hard at how much time we actually need to spend at work, because there are too many other important things we might be missing out on. Work matters but so do family, chores, church, rest, and more. We may need to take Jesus’ advice “Come aside… and rest a while” (Mark 6:31).
