Of all the things we experience in life – the good, the bad, the ugly – without a shadow of doubt, one the most pleasant, one of the most wonderful … is rest. T’ain’t nothin’ like putting your head down on that soft pillow at night after a long hard day.

In fact, when you think about it, rest is absolutely vital to our survival. You can’t keep functioning without it. Eventually, your body will fall asleep no matter how hard you try staying awake. Indeed, protracted sleep deprivation will eventually kill you.

But rest isn’t just about sleep. We need to rest our emotions, our minds, our bodies in various ways. A day or two off work each week. A pleasant stroll in the woods. A vacation now and then. We all know how important those things are.

And why wouldn’t they be. After all, they were God’s idea from the very beginning.

Genesis 2:1-3 So the earth, the sky, and everything in them were finished. God finished the work he was doing, so on the seventh day he rested from his work. God blessed the seventh day and made it a holy day. He made it special because on that day he rested from all the work he did while creating the world.

Perhaps you think I’ve been belabouring this whole rest thing over the last couple of weeks. And yet, we live in a world that’s suffering from burnout; a world in which people are emotionally, spiritually and physically sick, in which marriages are falling apart, children are growing up unloved, lives are being trashed simply because people have forgotten the art of rest.

God blessed the Sabbath, He set it apart for rest. His rest. Your rest.

That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.