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Presented by Julie Busteed

How do we live our lives walking worthy of Christ and not spend our day constantly exhausted? I’ve been looking at how God created us to rest. And, as always, Jesus is our best example.

Jesus was constantly in demand. Crowds followed him. His disciples needed him. Sick and hurting people came to him. The Pharisees watched and challenged him. And yet, Jesus made time to rest.

Luke 5:16 says, But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Around this time, Jesus was healing people, and the news about him was spreading quickly. Crowds were coming to him to be healed of their diseases. Yet, right in the middle of all that demand and attention, Jesus withdrew to a lonely place and prayed. He wasn’t driven by the desire to be popular, needed, or in demand. The kind of recognition that can so easily become a driving force in our lives wasn’t his priority. His priority was doing the Father’s will and that began with getting away from the crowds and spending time alone with God.

Sometimes I think we’re afraid to be alone. We need constant busyness or noise. Maybe you and I are simply so accustomed to it that we don’t even notice it anymore. But we need quiet. Our souls need time alone with God. Psalm 46:10 says, Be still, and know that I am God. God calls us to himself to be still and simply be with him.

Jesus also needed physical rest. John 4:6 says, Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. Jesus was tired, so he sat down and rested. He allowed the other disciples to go into town to get the supplies they needed while he stayed behind. And while he rested, he had an amazing conversation with the woman who came to the well. Jesus didn’t neglect his physical needs. He rested. And he trusted others to take care of what needed to be done.

I recently had the opportunity to get away and rest for a few days at a lake house. I noticed this saying that was on a plaque in the home: “Time wasted at the lake is time well spent.”

I take it to mean that rest and not doing your ordinary life of work–getting out of your daily routine and relaxing and enjoying time at the lake is not wasted. That rest is important. That this time is valuable. I would argue that we also need to “waste time” with God. Not because our time is actually wasted, but because sometimes the most productive thing we can do is simply rest in him. I think the plaque could read “Time wasted with God is time well spent!”