Put Down the Energy Drink … and Rest

You need to rest. Yes, you.

I don’t care who you are. You need to rest.

I’ve got friends and family who—when I offer the cursory greeting “How ya doin’?”—respond with how busy they are. They wear it like a badge of honor.

“I’m worn out. I may be dead on my feet, but my, look how wonderfully busy I am!”

That’s nothing but another form of pride. 

Busyness = Productivity
Productivity = Usefulness
Usefulness = Importance

We’ve bought into the myth that busyness equals productivity and value. We fuel our feeling of productivity when we multi-task, but a study has shown that when we multi-task, we’re actually getting less done—up to fifty percent less!

This myth fuels the energy drink business. Americans drink over 1200 million gallons of energy drinks each year. For those among us who look down our noses at energy drinks, we still consume our coffee and caffeinated beverages for the same reason: we want to be awake. We don’t want to miss anything. We don’t want to sleep.

I am not against energy drinks or caffeine. Many days a coffee cup is fused to my left hand. What I am against is not resting.

It’s a sin.

The Ten Commandments are a pretty big deal, and they include a call to rest.  It is not a command to avoid fun on Sundays. Every command from God is for our benefit. He calls us to rest because He loves us. We benefit from the physical, emotional, and spiritual restoration. We need it once a week—and we need it daily.

• “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
• “I lie down and sleep;
  I wake again because the Lord sustains me” (Ps. 3:5).
• Jesus valued rest. “He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat’” (Mark 6:31).

Do you really want to be productive? Slow down. Stop. Rest. Sleep. I have learned from experience that when I take a day of rest, get plenty of sleep at night, and don’t push myself from dawn to dusk, I am truly more productive. Weird, huh?

Be productive and rest.

Subscribe to this blog at the top of the page! And encourage others by sharing this post.

For a printable version: click here.

This post supports the study “Honor God” in Bible Studies for Life and YOU.

Podcast

Join Lynn Pryor and Chris Johnson as they discus this topic:

https://ministrysites.s3.amazonaws.com/podcasts/bsfl_adults/BSFL_ADULTS_Fal20_U1S2.mp3