The lowdown on rest and success

Is it just me or has busyness become a gold standard for success? I have been known – and this is very embarrassing – to add in additional things to my weekend because I enjoy them, but also to make my weekend sound busier and more impressive when I tell people about it. How awful is that?

We live in an always-on culture that thrives on busyness. If you haven’t got plans on a Saturday night, culture says something is wrong, or you must angle it on your Story that you deliberately, and sometimes apologetically, chose a chilled one.

In lockdown, confinement or cocooning (as I heard someone call it, which I wholeheartedly approve), the pillars of busyness and a lot of the status symbols in our culture are suddenly hidden from view. We’ve been stripped of so much that it’s got me thinking about rest, and the Bible talks a lot about that.

In that classic story, Jesus goes to Martha’s house and she is rushing around doing things, but Mary is listening at Jesus’ feet. When Martha complains that her sister isn’t helping, Jesus says “Martha, dear friend, you are upset over all the details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it” (Luke 11:41-42).

God wants our hearts, more than our action. We can be tempted to fill our time with evangelism initiatives, church activities and such which are all so great, and so vital, but can, if we’re not careful, take over so we lose sight of the main thing. The freeing truth is God doesn’t need us to do things. He can do everything himself, but He chooses to use us and let us join in on His plan out of His grace.

And God knows what we need. The reality is the battle is tough and we aren’t superhumans. “Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing” Psalm 34:10.  

God loves rest. Jesus took time out alone to pray (Luke 5:15-16; Mark 1:35). The Bible puts rest – time spent with God, dwelling in His presence, reading His word, worshipping – at the forefront.

It’s in the resting, in that secret, hidden place with God, that He captures our hearts and gets us refreshed. It’s hard to hear His heartbeat when we’re racing ourselves, pedal to the metal. What we need to do is get so close to Him that we can hear the thump thump of his heart, learn what He cares about, His perspective and then our hearts become aligned with His.

“How lovely is your dwelling place,” the Psalmist writes (Psalm 84:1), “better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere” (Psalm 84:10). If we want to love God and love people as ourselves, we need to fill up with Him. Everyday. Getting refreshed takes physical time. We need to carve out space in our lives for that alone time with God as our first priority. Because when we’re filled with Him, the fruit flows from that, like the branch connected to the vine (John 15). The more of God we get, the more we want and the more we have to give to others. Heidi Baker of Iris Global calls the rhythm we need to enter into: ‘the run, the rest and the release’.

We often carry heavy burdens. I often fall into thinking ‘I can do it’. But I forget that our only success comes from God (2 Corinthians 4:5) and we need the Holy Spirit’s help. God is the almighty, all-powerful God. We don’t need to strive to achieve for Him because He’s called us into the beauty of His rest, into the sanctuary of His presence, where he’ll give us everything we need for the tasks He wants us to accomplish for Him.

Sometimes stopping is scary. It requires vulnerability. Telling God everything and being completely real with Him requires a bit of courage. But He knows us.

What if success looked like being as close to God as possible? Not an insane social life, an amazing job or even fantastic mission work. It is totally fine to be busy and thrive on it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it and God loves everything we do for the kingdom. But maybe we should be women that build in time to intentionally rest – not hiding behind the smokescreen of busyness, but carving out space to be real with God. Sometimes our lives don’t equate to much leeway, but if we’ve got space, let’s use it to hang out with our Father. When God gives us times of rest, like maybe He’s doing right now, let’s enjoy them, long for them and then watch our perspectives, and worlds, shift.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest’” Matthew 11:28