Idleness vs. Active Rest

 We have often met with couples in disagreement or strife.  Sometimes the issue has been due to one struggling in sin.  What I have found more often than not is that idleness can at times provide the perfect environment for dabbling in sin.  The Bible warns us about being idle.  Scripture states that idle hands are the devil’s workshop, and the common phrase, “idleness is the devil’s playground” echos that Proverb.  

Idleness stems from boredom and the need to be entertained.

i·dle·ness

ˈīdlnəs/

noun

1.   laziness; indolence.

"he was punished for his idleness at school"

o   a state of inaction; inactivity.

"we suffered a period of enforced idleness"

Proverbs 12:24 

Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.

Proverbs 21:25 

The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. 

1 Thessalonians 5:14 

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

Rest is modeled in scripture.  Jesus went away and he rested.    His only purpose on earth was to carry out the will of the Father.  How exhausting that must have been.  The same is true for us.  Our purpose on this earth is to carry out the will of the Father.  It takes our heart and soul.  It takes passion and grit.  And if we’re doing it right, it should tire us.  It should require us to make the active decision to rest.  

Matthew 18:30 & Mark 6:31 are almost identical passages.  

Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest.  Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.  

When God has spoken big and wondrous things to me, it’s been when I made the time and effort to hear. Typically, God has spoken life altering things when we’ve been on trips and taken the time to be away.  In my opinion, it has nothing to do with where we went.  It has everything to do with readying our hearts to hear.  How challenging it is to ready our hearts to hear when we've got a full time job, family to invest into, a house to keep clean, etc etc.

Rest is when we press the pause button on life, retreat away, and get refueled.  It is a conscious and purposeful time away.  Unlike idleness, rest is not passive, its active. So often in life I feel like we make it hard to hear from the Lord.  We must hear him over our own thoughts, over the voices of spouses and children, co-workers and the list goes on.  Choosing a place of quiet allows you to hear him louder and clearer than the everyday distractions he often must compete with.  We may not always have the luxury of getting away for a week, or even weekend.  At times we may need to get a bit creative.  

One of my daughters wanted to play “salon.” She had me lay on the recliner as she placed cucumber on my eyes and applied a homemade face mask to my face.  (It burned like crazy but I didn’t have the heart to tell her.) She pushed my cuticles back (which felt like she was ripping off my skin) and did my fingernails.  She clipped my toenails (way too far actually) and painted my toes.  (I may have ended up with more polish on my skin than my nails.)  Although this experience was super adorable yet painful, I was able to be quiet and rest.  If I can find rest even in this uncomfortable situation, you can find rest in the most random of circumstances.  

If Jesus came to complete the will of the Father, he needed to know what that was. He needed to know what to do and when to do it.  Same is true for us.