Dan Willis warns Christian men against habitual rest that becomes laziness. He distinguishes between scheduled rest and endless pausing that neglects work and spiritual calling, urging listeners to plan regular rest days while pushing through heavy workloads to fulfill God's purposes.
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So reading through the devotion today in Proverbs 24 really put on me the concept of rest. And again, there's a caution here against that idea of rest being consuming. That what seems innocent, that we can have, you know, a little nap here, a little rest here, just take a moment to consider and pause, rest is fine, we'll get through. There's nothing wrong with that. However, when we continue to give ground, when we decide that, okay, a moment of pause can be another one, And then another one, and then another one. If we are not conscious and we're not making a designed rest, it can overcome us. And we see that here where the sluggard's fields, not because of one small pause, but because he becomes habitually paused. He takes on a character of pause, of rest, instead of work with the exception being rest. Everything falls to ruin. That's a strong reminder to me that, you know, you wake up in the morning and you're exhausted. Most adults I know are. Even my adult girls, like Pillar and Rainey and Jenny, and they wake up and they are wiped because they work so hard. But they don't use that tiredness as an excuse to continue and rest and pause. They take that as a driver. They use it to say, okay, there will be a day when I rest. I intend and purpose a day a week of rest. But on days where that's not the case, I push through and I work that much the harder so that the things that I'm building, the things that God has put on my heart, the things that I'm supposed to be doing excel. They grow. They thrive. They don't fall apart. They don't fall to ashes. They don't crumble around us. I think this is the caution of the sluggard is it happens slowly. And we talk about the slow fade a lot, but the slow fade can happen in something that is good like rest, but too much of it can become very detrimental. And I really love this today is, you know, I woke up and I am in a season of exhaustion right now. There's so much to do. There's just so, so much to do. But to remember that that work is good, And there are times where Christ himself pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed, but also intentionally to have rest and to look forward to and cherish those planned times of rest. Yeah, exactly. So for those of you that are out there busting butt, struggling and exhausted, if you're not taking the time to plan the rest, do that. Take the time today, plan out a time of rest for yourself, whether it's a time of rest in your evening or a day of rest that you're not taking. Do that. But if you're somebody who's found yourself in the habit of rest, habitually resting and not pushing through to Make the work and to not allow your vineyard to become overrun, to see your, your, the things that you're building fall to ruins because of your rest. Challenge it, really wrestle with it and struggle with it like Jacob did. Find a blessing in your work and in those struggles. It's amazing what can be accomplished.
