Happy New Year!!!
What does the New Year mean to you? Often, we can think of Jan 1 as the day to begin a New Year’s resolution. It’s the time to finally start going to the gym and taking that yoga class, to try out some pottery lessons, to learn a new language. For this Mental Health Wellness Month, I wanted to think about what it might mean to approach the New Year from a mental health-positive and Christ-centered perspective.
The Biblical Importance of Rest
I think we can sometimes think of improvement to our lives or self-care as needing to do something more for ourselves. We think to start a new activity, when what we actually need to do is to do less. In our society that values productivity and efficiency, doing less might be what we need to avoid burnout and to live within our limits. The Bible also shows that Jesus often withdrew from the crowds to spend time with God.
First, it is clear that the Bible calls us to rest. Just as we are called to work, we are also called to rest. As Christians, we should not neglect the importance of rest to our health and mental health. Scripture tells us that “God created man in his own image” (Genesis 1:27). As His image-bearers, each of us should aspire to emulate the character and activities of God. This includes the practice of rest.
The Sabbath
In Genesis, after God created the heavens and the earth, “on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation” (Genesis 2:2-3). God worked, and thus we also ought to work. God rested, and thus we also ought to rest.
I think these verses also reveal that God’s purpose for rest is different than how we often think about rest. We are told that, “The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary[.]” (Isaiah 40:28) But if God does not faint or grow weary, why would He need to rest? This can be confusing for us because we often seek rest because we cannot work or engage in productive activities without rest. Thus, we rest for work. For God, rest has a purpose in itself entirely apart from work. God rests for rest. Rest is itself good.
Yes, it’s a great thing that rest makes us more productive. Yes, it’s a good thing to seek forms of rest that clear our mind, make us more energized, and prepare us better for the next day. But, we don’t always have to seek efficiency and productivity in rest just as we do in work. We can rest for rest’s sake. Our rest doesn’t have to be connected to our work, and God tells us that rest was designed for a greater purpose.
Rest in Stillness and Peace for Mental Health Wellness Month
What did rest look like for Jesus? The Bible indicates that in the midst of doing powerful ministry work and with countless demands for his time and presence, Jesus rested by going to places where he could be alone to pray and to be with God. In Luke, “great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray” (Luke 5:15-16).
As we enter a new year, many of us embark on New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps this year we can experiment with a form of countercultural wellness in which we do less instead of more. Rather than feel like we need to rack up another achievement or start a new hobby, we can say No to our culture of constant activity and say Yes to stillness and rest. And, by being more alone, maybe we will discover that we are never truly alone. Maybe we will discover more fully what Jesus meant when he told his disciples, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 8:20).
I hope that you had an amazing and peaceful holiday season. And I pray that the new year will be another opportunity for positive change in your life!
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