Posts Tagged: Genesis 2:2-3

“JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF SLEEP?”

On January 4, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“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.”  (Psalm 127:2, New Living Translation, italics mine)

“28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

  29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

  30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”  (Matthew 11:28-30, New Living Translation, italics mine)

“1 God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.

  2 For this good news– that God has prepared this rest– has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.

  3 For only we who believe can enter his rest.” (Hebrews 4:1-3a, New Living Translation, italics mine)

 

Here is my journal entry for this morning:

Thursday, January 4, 2018

I am not getting as much sleep as I think I need.  I am working more diligently, which is good.  However, I’m not sure getting four hours of sleep is very good.

On the other hand, I don’t want to lose any sleep over my lack of sleep.  As the saying goes, “there is no problem so bad that it can’t be made worse by worrying about it.”

Sleep, like life itself, comes as a gift from God.  It comes in the amounts and times that God determines.  I need to learn to be content.

Perhaps rest is more important than sleep.  Perhaps I will be alright if I can go through the day restfully.  I think that it is even possible to work in a restful manner.

Jesus spoke of God as always at work (John 5:17).  The authors of Genesis and of Hebrews (Genesis 2:2-3; Hebrews 4:1-3a) talk about God resting from all his works.  If I am made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27, I too can learn the fine art of balancing work and rest.

And, of course, there is always the chance to nap.

 

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“AM I BEING PRODUCTIVE OR WORSHIPING PRODUCTIVITY?”

On June 8, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Please help him to be productive without worshiping the false god ‘productivity’.”  (Paraphrase of a friend’s prayer for me today.)

Good prayer!  This is an important distinction to make: being productive, versus worshiping productivity.

Part of my problem is that I define productivity very narrowly.  If I get paid for doing something, and if I think it is important, and if everyone else thinks it is productive, and . . . and . . . and . . .

If my definition of productivity is this narrow, I doom myself to an unproductive day and an unproductive life.

What would happen if I were to define productivity much more broadly?  What if productivity included such things as these: twelve-step phone calls, mowing the grass, exercising, really listening to my wife, cleaning the commode, smiling at someone for no particular reason?  What if even a blog post is a form of productivity??

What if noticing the robin on my neighbor’s roof is productivity?

The problem is not simply my narrow definition of productivity.  The deeper problem is that I worship it.  And even good things, if they become gods, are not good.

One of the many ways of looking at the Old Testament Sabbath is to think of it as a reminder that productivity is not the be-all and end-all.  Even God rested on the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:8-11).  Apparently, even God doesn’t worship productivity.

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