How to learn to rest properly
Repetition
- Don’t forget how important you are to God
- Enjoy what you already have
- Day off with God
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4. Adjust your values to it,
What is really important
The fourth thing God says to do is, adjust your values. Why am I saying that now? Because to limit overwork in your life, you will have to change the way of thinking, to what is really important. Ask yourself this question. – What is really important?
I often say – ‘For money we don’t have, we buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t even like.’ Get rid of it, stop trying to keep up with the Nováks or anyone. Live a life filled with rest. You can’t compare yourself to what others have while reducing your stress.
Jesus gets right to the core of this adjustment of our values. Look at this verse: Mark 8:36 After all, what will benefit a person if he gains the whole world, and wastes true life? What will benefit a person if he gains everything material and at the same time loses his soul? …you say, “Look what I’ve achieved at school and at work!” But how is your soul? Did you lose your soul in it? Have you lost your relationships? Have you lost your love for God? Have you lost your love for your neighbor as yourself? What’s the point for you to be on the cover of Time magazine, and at the same time you lose your identity in Jesus.
I like to receive letters and emails. I talked about stress and worries last time and here is the email I received after my sermon:
‘Pastor Rick, when I listened to you last weekend, it was like someone set up a mirror for me. I filled my life with activities and even service. To keep myself busy enough that I wouldn’t have time to think about some questions that I really need to solve or face. I know I’m not the only one who realizes this, and I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about worries, stress and haste. I think a series of these sermons will change my life. And it saves many people’s lives. I think it will also save some relationships, some marriages, some friendships, some families, some lives. Thanks to your sermon from the past, i am rested yesterday and the world is not over. I read the entire Sunday newspaper for the first time in a long time. I talked to friends without thinking or rushing to do anything else. I enjoyed my children playing with their friends. I was sitting in a room I had just redone so I could rest in it. – I have to admit that sometimes I didn’t have time to sit in it before, or even just enjoy it. I just remade him. And most importantly, I talked to God a lot during my quiet moments. And I painfully admitted to him that I missed the time spent with him. In fact, this is the best thing that has happened to me so far. It was a great feeling to get back on the right path with God. And all day I found myself asking, What would happen if I sat quietly for just two minutes? What would happen if I just stopped for two minutes? What am I so afraid of? And it was great!
I know that some painful issues will probably come up now that I clear my schedule and mind. I have to think about some things. But if I am close to God, there is nothing I cannot handle and cannot face. Because I’m not alone.
Thank you so much for these sermons, it’s the answer to the prayers of so many of us. At the pace we have been operating so far, we simply cannot continue. We just needed someone to tell us it’s okay to stop and set aside time to rest, and also So that we don’t feel guilty about it. Because God never wanted us to live at such a fast pace as we live.”
Rick: I can only add – Amen.
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5. Exchange your restlessness for God’s peace
Here is the fifth thing to do.- It is necessary to exchange your restlessness for God’s peace.
John 14:27 I leave you peace, I give you my peace; Not as the world gives, I give to you. Let your heart not tremble and not frighten! Spigot
I will exchange my restlessness, I’ll give him up. The Lord is my shepherd, He forces me to lie down on the green pastures. I will give up my tendency to wander. A tendency to wander, a tendency to deviate from the path. I will trade my restlessness for God’s peace.
Finally, allow me a few verses, Jesus says this: Matthew 6:26-30
Look at the birds: they do not sow or harvest, they do not collect grain in granaries, but the heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you much more valuable?
Even if you care as much as you can, you won’t extend your life for a single moment.
And why are you worried about your clothes? Look at the flowers of the field: they do not even work, And you see, even Solomon was not as dressed in his royal majesty as any of them.
If God gives such beauty to tiny field flowers that do not last long, it will not take care of you? Do you trust him so little?
God takes care of the birds, what more will he take care of you! God loves you more than you can ever imagine. There is nothing you can do to love you more or to love you less.
You see, what I’m talking about is actually getting to the roots of your workaholism and my workaholism. We come to the roots of your restlessness, your stress. Physical fatigue will occur, your muscles are tired. And then there’s emotional fatigue when your emotions are tired. And then there is spiritual fatigue when your spirit dries up.
Trying to stay awake even when we are completely tired is what little children do. it is a sign of immaturity. Whoever is mature knows how to rest.
It takes more than just going to sleep to cure the last two. You can go to bed, but you won’t get rid of emotional fatigue, you won’t even get rid of spiritual fatigue.
People say, “Well, I just need a vacation.” yes that will help too but you need more than that. You need a relationship more than a vacation. – Relationship to Jesus. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, we are not brought up to live in this way.
In the first week of this series, I said that sheep are not very smart. They are truly one of the dumbest animals that God created. Did you know that sheep don’t like to lie? They don’t like to lie down. And yet Psalm 23 says, God makes me lie down. And if you don’t slow down, God will make you lie down.
Now please start working on it immediately. – Plan a ‘Day with God’. God’s plan and the path is not just the right way, it’s not just a healthy way, it’s A pleasant way of life.
And if you’re tired of the way you live, here’s my answer – Come to Jesus! Take a moment with him!
Last verse: Matthew 11: 28-30 Jesus says in paraphrased translation Message: Are you tired? Are you exhausted? Are you burnt out? Come to me!
Note that he does not say, come to school, to study, etc., he says: ‘Come to me’, to the relationship. Come into my arms, come to me, says Jesus, There will be a renewal of your life. I’ll show you how to really relax. Walk with me, work with me. Look how I do it. This is my favorite sentence. Learn the effortless rhythms of God’s grace. I would be happiest if you learned the unforced rhythm of grace.
Jesus says: I won’t put anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Stay connected with me and you will learn to live freely and easily.
Come to Jesus. He won’t load more burdens on you. On the contrary, he will take them off you.
Summary
Now I allow myself to summarize everything. Here are the five things, five antibodies, how to learn to really rest:
I will keep reminding myself how much value I have for God, how important I am to him.
I’m looking forward to what I already have.
I limit my work to six days a week.
I am adjusting my values to those that are really important.
I exchange my restlessness for God’s peace.
What does that mean? Relax! R-E-L-A-X! That’s what God wants you to do.
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Reflections and Prayer
Saint Augustine once said that the beginning of good deeds begins with confessions of bad deeds. So why not confess to God what caused your overwork and distorted values?
Why do you think you are stressed instead of being a blessing?
You might say: “God, I based my value on my work and performance, I’m sorry.
God, I’ve always wanted more, I’ve never had enough, what I already have, I’m very materialistic. But you said that I shouldn’t exhaust myself from trying to get rich. I’m supposed to be wise, which means restrained.”
And you may have to say: ‘Jesus, I was envious. I wanted what others have. And I wanted to be like them. I didn’t want to be myself.’
Maybe you need to say: ‘Jesus, I confess that I allowed success to become more important to me than relationships. And I didn’t ask myself difficult questions like: Why am I still working so hard? Why don’t I allow myself to enjoy life? Who cares? Will it stay with me?”
And maybe you have to admit your uncertainty and say:
‘God, I live with the fear that I won’t have enough. To have enough to retire or anything else. But today I want to change. It’s pointless for me to work so hard from morning to night with the fear that I won’t have enough. Now I know that you want it to be yours Beloved had a good rest. Today I want to learn to rest in God’s goodness. You are a good shepherd. I want to lie down on the green pastures. I want you to lead me to the silent waters.
Help me remember that I have immense value to you, more than anything else. That you love me unconditionally, that I don’t have to prove anything to myself or others. Help me enjoy what I already have instead of always trying to get more.
Help me limit my work to six days a week.
And where necessary, help me adjust my values. To prefer what is really the most important thing, to focus on the main thing and not on the secondary things in life.
Help me to take a day of rest every week.
A Today I want to exchange my restlessness for your peace. Your pressure for your peace. your problems for your room.
I want to live in the love and goodness of my good shepherd.
Jesus, I surrender to you every area of my life. I want to love and follow you.
I pray in your name, Amen.
