News
Opinion
More and more I've been noticing how busy we've become as a society. Recently, I tried to schedule a meeting of parents and children prior to beginning confirmation classes. But that meeting had to be rescheduled no fewer than four times due to people's changing plans and busy lives. Currently, I'm trying to organize a climb of one of our state's 14,000-foot peaks with a few friends. But every time we think we've come up with a date that works, someone (and that someone has frequently been me) realizes that they have a meeting, a class or some other important event already booked for that date.
How often we find ourselves thinking, “I wish I had some more time in my life!” If only there were 25 hours in a day, or eight days in a week. Then we'd have enough time to cram everything into our lives that we want to, right? Actually, God himself established how long a day, a week, and a year should last. It was he who set into motion the 24 hours it takes for the earth to rotate on its axis. It was he who determined that it would take roughly 365 days for our planet to complete a journey around the sun.
It was also God who established a pattern of work and rest. At the very beginning of time, God gave us the example of work followed by rest. Specifically, six days of work followed by one day of rest. For the Old Testament believers, that pattern was the law. They were forbidden to do any work on Saturday, devoting that day instead to rest and sacred assembly. In the New Testament, God made it clear that the Sabbath Day laws are no longer in force. Yet that does not mean that we no longer have the need to set aside time regularly for rest.
Our bodies need the opportunity to rest. Without regular rest, we become stressed out, and too soon, burned out. Our souls also need to rest. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The rest for our souls that our Savior offers comes in the form of the forgiveness and new life he grants us through his gospel. Without taking advantage of this offered rest on a regular basis by gathering around God's Word, our souls and our faith quickly become stressed out and burned out. Ultimately, our faith will die out.
As summer turns into fall, it seems just about everyone's calendar becomes just a little busier, and everyone's life just a little more stressful. Don't let the tyranny of the urgent dictate your life! Take time to rest. Do something different and relaxing, whether that consists of going on a hike, catching up on yard work, or just finishing that book you started reading a while ago. But don't forget to give your soul some R&R, too! Find rest by regularly gathering around, hearing, reading and immersing yourself in the true rest God grants us in his life-giving Word. There you will find not more time in your life, but rather, more life in your time.
— Brent Merten is pastor of Mountain Valley Lutheran Church, 802 Brush Creek Terrace, Eagle.
How often we find ourselves thinking, “I wish I had some more time in my life!” If only there were 25 hours in a day, or eight days in a week. Then we'd have enough time to cram everything into our lives that we want to, right? Actually, God himself established how long a day, a week, and a year should last. It was he who set into motion the 24 hours it takes for the earth to rotate on its axis. It was he who determined that it would take roughly 365 days for our planet to complete a journey around the sun.
It was also God who established a pattern of work and rest. At the very beginning of time, God gave us the example of work followed by rest. Specifically, six days of work followed by one day of rest. For the Old Testament believers, that pattern was the law. They were forbidden to do any work on Saturday, devoting that day instead to rest and sacred assembly. In the New Testament, God made it clear that the Sabbath Day laws are no longer in force. Yet that does not mean that we no longer have the need to set aside time regularly for rest.
Our bodies need the opportunity to rest. Without regular rest, we become stressed out, and too soon, burned out. Our souls also need to rest. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The rest for our souls that our Savior offers comes in the form of the forgiveness and new life he grants us through his gospel. Without taking advantage of this offered rest on a regular basis by gathering around God's Word, our souls and our faith quickly become stressed out and burned out. Ultimately, our faith will die out.
As summer turns into fall, it seems just about everyone's calendar becomes just a little busier, and everyone's life just a little more stressful. Don't let the tyranny of the urgent dictate your life! Take time to rest. Do something different and relaxing, whether that consists of going on a hike, catching up on yard work, or just finishing that book you started reading a while ago. But don't forget to give your soul some R&R, too! Find rest by regularly gathering around, hearing, reading and immersing yourself in the true rest God grants us in his life-giving Word. There you will find not more time in your life, but rather, more life in your time.
— Brent Merten is pastor of Mountain Valley Lutheran Church, 802 Brush Creek Terrace, Eagle.
