“All my time is with You.”

Happy Labor Day Weekend! When I was young, I always thought that it was rather ironic to have a holiday from work to celebrate work. But as I got older, I realized how a balance of work and rest go together. In fact, it's the way God designed it from creation with the six days of work and then the seventh as a day of rest -- the Sabbath. In fact, God gave a command to remember the Sabbath Day, which for the people of Israel was not only a day to refrain from work but also for sacred assembly.

How do you do with a healthy balance of work and rest? There is no perfect formula as far as so much time for one or the other. But there is another way of looking at it.

I'm sure you've heard of "Take Your Child To Work" days. Perhaps we need to start thinking of "Take Jesus To Work" every day. In other words, we don't compartmentalize Jesus, thinking "This is Your time and this is my time," but, "All my time is time with You." And when we spend all our time with Jesus, the Holy Spirit has a marvelous way of reminding us when we need to work and when we need to rest. We read about that in Mark 6:31, "Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, 'Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.'"

So how does one come to Jesus for rest? Worship, personal Bible reading, devotional time, prayer, and yes, stopping and taking time to rest. As Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28). -Pastor Schmidt