Have you ever come to the end of a day and realized you did nothing useful or productive all day long? Wonderful, isn’t it? I know I am supposed to be horrified and say how terrible, but I can’t. Our culture drives us to be productive.
We, at least I, grew up hearing lectures about not wasting time and that we are accountable to God for every minute. For decades I was driven to be busy, to come to the end of every day knowing I worked hard. Working hard is good. Please don’t misunderstand me. But if God wanted us to be driven all day He wouldn’t have invented easy chairs. I have one that is better than any sleeping pill. Just to sit in it is an invitation to disappear into slumber.
Right from the beginning God told us to take it easy at least one day a week. Check out Genesis one and two. He told us to lay aside our weekday occupations and to slow down. In Ecclesiastics Solomon reminds us that the person who works sixty hours a week and the person who works twenty hours a week eventually end up in the same cemetery. Only maybe the person who worked sixty hours a week got there first.
Once again I would like to assure you I am not making an appeal for us to be indolent and to neglect our responsibilities. Quite to the contrary. I am just speaking out for moderation and balance. Work is good but so is rest. Again in Ecclesiastics three, Solomon wrote there is a time for every purpose under heaven. Getting back to coming to the end of a day and having not done anything useful. Well that really is a waste.
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 2, 2008
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574