This month, I am participating in Squatober. Squatober involves squatting 5 days a week for the entire month of October. It is both a social media workout regimen and a form of self-abuse (at least it feels that way). Because I am also helping to coach a middle school football team and doing all of the other things of parenting and pastoring, the only way for me to work out five days a week in the month of October is to get up before the world is awake and be under the barbell by 5:00 AM to squat.
So far, I’m surviving. Yes, somedays I am very miserable, and this morning, my legs were so tired from my early morning lift that I almost fell flat on my face when I stood up in Starbucks. But, I’m not alone. I have some friends and family that are doing the suffering along with me through the workouts. I’m enjoying the struggle and I’m confident that I’m getting stronger.
But, what I am enjoying even more is rest. Waking up stupid early and lifting on a relatively insane schedule is exhausting. But, all of that struggle and strain have reminded of the good gift of rest.
There is something in us as Americans that makes us a little too proud to rest. This isn’t just in politics or the business world, I had a seminary professor who confidently told us that no one needs more than 5 hours of sleep per night. We needed to commit to working more and sleeping less.
That isn’t true.
Sleep isn’t sin. Rest is a requirement for healthy living and is one of God’s good gifts to us.
On the seventh day, God rested. We too should rest. Galatians 4:7 tells us that we are no longer slaves, but sons. Slaves do not get the privilege of rest. Slaves live lives of toil and strife. Even their rest is not “theirs,” but only what is afforded to them by their master–slaves can rest of their master says that their work is done.
Just as work is not a product of the fall, neither is rest. Rest was one of God’s good gifts in creation. When we rest to God’s glory, we fight back against the sinful thoughts that our worth is only found in our strength and ability. When we rest, we fight against our sinful tendency to believe that the world revolves around us and we trust that God can handle the world just fine without us.
As Jesus inaugurated his Kingdom, one of his invitations was, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” The Kingdom of God is not a Kingdom of weariness and burden, but of rest–rest in Christ and in His finished work on the cross. Part of Jesus’s work of restoring broken creation was to restore the goodness of rest.
5:00 AM workouts may be temporary for me because they make it difficult to get in my quiet times each morning. But, they have been a great reminder to me of the necessity of rest. When I ignore the TV and go to bed early, I remember that God has given me rest and one day I will enter into my eternal rest with him.
Rest is one of God’s good gifts to us. Embrace his gift this month and give him glory for his generosity toward you.
Thanks to Zach Betten for sharing their work on Unsplash.
