As You Go

Ex.35:2 (TLB) “Work six days only; the seventh day is a day of solemn rest, a holy day to be used to worship Jehovah; anyone working on that day must die.”

God wired leisure into creation. Gen.2:1-3 “So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.” God was modelling something for us in this passage of scripture. God does not really need to rest; He is the one that neither sleeps nor slumbers and He has been that way since before the earth and its foundations were laid. But He was showing us that you and I must rest. So, you must schedule your rest. 

Increasingly, a lot of people think they are too busy and do not have time to rest. If you do not rest, you will be rested. That is how it is, you must schedule a time to rest. Take the mobile phone billing plans for instance. When mobile phones first showed up on the scene in Nigeria, there were two billing plans, the post-paid and the prepaid billing plan. Right now, the billing plans have mostly converged. Even the so-called post-paid plans are actually prepaid plans. This simply shows us that it is better to play as you go. It is better to pay as you go rather than spend first then struggle to pay later. How does this apply to work? A lot of people insist on working to gather funds first and then go for a vacation. God says nope, play as you go. 

God does not expect a week to pass without you going on a vacation. It is in the Bible. God does not expect a week to go without you resting and playing, deliberately. You will discover that when you do not play, you become drained. When you are drained, you are more vulnerable to discouragement. In other words, you get easily discouraged when you are drained. The slightest things get to you and discourage you when you are drained. It is called burning out. You are more likely to surprise yourself when you are drained. When people are drained, they are more likely to use the four words that break down resistance, ‘I might as well’ and get themselves into trouble. 

So, in order to limit discouragement, schedule your leisure. If you are really struggling with scheduling your leisure, I urge you to get the resource on deflecting daily, withdrawing weekly and abandoning annually. It will help you. Ps.127:2 “It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.”

Prayer: Father, I am Your beloved in Christ Jesus, I receive Your rest. Please help me to be deliberate about scheduling my leisure and rest weekly, in Jesus Name. Amen!