The "Rest" of our Story

There's a lot of ways to hear a question someone is asking. There are a multitude of ways to interpret what is being said. At least that's the way I've reacted upon reading John Wesley's seventeenth question, asked of those who were part of the Holy Club. The question is this: How do I spend my spare time?

My first reaction was: WHAT spare time? Of course, that's unfair. I do have "spare" time if we understand that to mean "non-job-related-time." There are (a few) times when I'm not "on the clock." Of course, those hours tend to get filled up with kids, work around the house and errands that have to be done. But I do have "spare" time. So how do I spend it?

There are those who will hear this as an accusation, as if whatever you answer to this question will be wrong and God will frown on it. Certainly, knowing Wesley's drivenness and his passion for preaching the Gospel, it would be easy to hear it that way. Are we really supposed to have "spare" time? Shouldn't we be busy sharing Jesus every moment of every day? Or doing something? I remember when I was ordained and Bishop White read those instructions from long ago, words that are repeated to every new ordinand: "Never be triflingly employed." I still hear those words echo in my soul any time I begin to feel like I have "spare" time. Is what I am doing "trifling"?

But I think the question is really not meant to induce guilt or poke fun, but rather to help us consider how even our "leisure" activities are a reflection of the God we serve. Do we do things in our so-called "spare" time that honor or dishonor Jesus Christ? Would we do those things if Jesus were standing right there?

The reason I think that's the question we ought to ask is that rest is not condemned in the Bible. In fact, rest is commended, even commanded, in the Scripture. Rest is okay. "Spare" time is okay. In the account of creation, we're told God worked for six days and rested on the seventh. One of the "top ten" of God's commandments is the command to rest: to remember the sabbath, the day of rest, and keep it holy by refraining from work. Rest. It's critical to our story. The question, then, centers on what we do in our "rest" time. That's the point at which we need to examine our souls.

Many of us simply do not rest. We don't feel valuable unless we are constantly going, constantly moving, always accomplishing something. So maybe the bigger question, especially in our culture, is this: do you rest? Do you intentionally carve out spare time? And when you do, are the things you do giving honor to Jesus? What do you do with the "rest" of your story?