At the start of the year I sensed God giving me the word ‘rest’ for this year.
By the middle of the year I knew life was anything but about rest this year.
In fact I’m confident that 2025 holds the record for the amount of times I’ve fallen asleep whilst praying at night.
So why then did he give me a word of ‘rest’?
This was my question a little while back because it didn’t make sense.
I decided that God was telling me to prepare for rest, because when you’ve been so busy, for so long, you actually need time to prepare for it.
This then caused me to reflect on the fact that across my working life, particularly in recent years, there hasn’t been much rest. Whilst of course there have been holidays and times of less productivity, I have really been on the go.
At this point I feel that if I mentioned this to someone in Christian circles, they would default to telling me I need to repent of this focus on work.
‘You aren’t making time for God. You’re a workaholic. You need repent of your careerism.’
And maybe I do.
(Although, personally I think I’m allergic to careerism)
But I don’t think the above default response is necessarily the only correct response.
Why do we default to equating being busy at work as a flaw in the Christian life?
Why do we not look at someone and say, ‘God has placed this busy season of work on him/her for a time because He wants to bless people through their work. They are working overtime for the kingdom.’
That’s not career driven workaholism. That’s gospel ministry.
Do we instantly default to saying that about a pastor if they are working hard for their church? We might eventually, but I don’t think we default to it the way we are inclined to with those working outside of the church.
We are inclined to view a pastor’s work as more sacred, but that’s a little skewed. Any job that is not in direct contrast to the teachings of the Bible can be sacred if offered to God.
Martin Luther agreed:
“Work and vocation, then, for [Luther], were the immediate effect of universal priesthood. This effect collapsed the “sacred-versus-secular” distinction, dignified the ordinary, emphasized the importance of neighbor-love, and promoted the common good. Our work, whatever that work is (woodworking, farming, or mining, baking, brewing, or butchering — even ruling!), is our worship to God and our service to fellow human beings[1].”
God isn’t bound by a sacred and secular divide. He gives an overriding command, no matter where we are found:
Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
Sometimes our work lives are excessively busy. This can be evidence of sin, that’s for sure. I pray that God will give me the grace to know if this is ever happening in my life.
But our work lives being excessively busy does not instantly mean we need to repent.
If God has called us to it and we refuse the call, that’s when we need to repent.
Hard work for the Kingdom should bless the world around us. Working so that others will prosper is what we are called to do and directly impinges upon our prosperity (financially or otherwise).
Being busy at work doesn’t necessarily mean that you aren’t making time for God. Busy workers can still pray to the Lord for the city.
It’s what I do late at night.
Yours getting ready for the rest,
Alison
[1] Daryl Charles https://commongoodmag.com/martin-luther-on-faith-and-work-8-abiding-lessons/
