While Labor Day may appear to just be another holiday on the calendar for many of us, the concept of rest is something few of us resonate with well. However, the Bible makes it clear: Rest is necessary in order for us to keep running the race of faith well. Here are five biblical principles about rest that Christians should consider as we walk out this journey with Christ.
God is our perfect example of rest.
— If the Creator of heaven and earth Himself rested, then we should follow His example.
“Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He had rested from all His work which He had created and made” (Gen. 2:3).
God rested after creating everything that exists, and it was this seventh day that He considered holy. That’s no coincidence. Like our heavenly Father, we must take the time to rest. It is in this rest where we can most clearly seek His presence and holiness.
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— Without rest, you will not have the capacity to do all that God has in store for your destiny.
All of us require rest at some point. If we do not rest, our level of excellence will decrease, and burnout is sure to knock at the door. Elijah is a great example of someone who had allowed fear to take over after seeing the Lord make Himself known to the people of Israel. He confronted the prophets of Baal, and the Lord showed up, but Elijah became fearful of Jezebel.
One of the things the Lord did to restore Elijah so he could continue with his purpose was quite simple: He sent an angel to feed Elijah so he could continue the race.
As he lay and slept under the juniper tree, an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’ He looked and there was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water at his head. And he ate and drank and then lay down again.
The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.’ He arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God (1 Kings 19: 5-8).
It wasn’t long after this when Elijah met Elisha, who would be his successor and have an even greater portion of anointing than Elijah.
— Resting allows God to do the miraculous.
Resting in God by trusting that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, allows Him to do what only He can do. Sometimes the greatest kind of obedience we can have is to be still and know that He is God (Ps. 46:10).
God does everything in His perfect timing and will. If we do not rest and leave our concerns in His hands, we will miss out on the greatness of His perfect plan.
Psalm 46:10 reminds not only to be still, but it reaffirms the glory that God deserves. “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 37:7-8 tells us to “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of those who make wicked schemes. Let go of anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it surely leads to evil deeds.”
When we rest in the Lord, trusting that He has us in the palm of His hands, we can be assured that He will move on our behalf.
— The Sabbath was made for us.
We can easily become religious about taking the Sabbath like the Pharisees were. However, God didn’t create it to pigeonhole us; He made it for our benefit.
When the Pharisees became angry at Jesus for allowing the disciples to pluck the heads of grain, He reminded that God is still in charge even on the Sabbath, and religious striving is not what He is after.
“Then He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath’ (Mark 2:27-28).
— Rest is essential for going deeper in our relationship with Jesus.
If we want to grow in our relationship with Christ, we have no choice but to rest in Him and with Him. Sometimes rest includes doing less of the hustle and bustle and more time reading the Word, worshipping and praying. If we never unplug to the world, how can we ever expect God to speak more to us?
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Jesus promised to be the living water that we need, the one who can sustain us through everything and is all-sufficient for us.
“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10).
Jesus is the one who fills us, and unless we take the time to get to know Him, in a state of rest, we will miss out on being filled by Him.
This Labor Day, take the time to be nourished by God’s great rest and restoration. There is nothing like being filled by His presence.
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Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
Rabbi Eric Tokajer 
James Lasher