"I'll sleep when I'm dead!" I wonder what Jesus would have thought of that statement. I wonder what Jesus' ministry would have been like if He had followed that statement. Christians love to point out how Jesus used to get away to find quiet time to pray late into the night, (that's a whole other blog post), but people forget to point out that Jesus also found time to rest whenever he could.
As a student in Bible college I have seen two perspectives emerge regarding sleep. The first is "It's College!" "You only do it once so let's just have some fun!" Now I love having fun. In fact I hate it when Christians make it out like the Christian walk is mostly suffering with little happiness when that is simply not true. But let's be honest every Christian who is looking to grow and mature knows that that extreme lifestyle isn't a responsible or Godly way of living.
The second perspective comes from misguided but well meaning teaching or the misinterpretation of the idea of sacrificing for God. (Some people get really weird about this idea so in general just think through such teachings carefully.) I am referring to messages about extreme living for God or going all out for Him which are good but the way such a lifestyle is portrayed is one that is very unwise to live out. You'll hear about how you need to be having long hours of intercessory prayer every night only to get up early the next morning to pray some more and read through the New Testament, oh and don't forget to hit a a truck-stop to witness before class while fasting a meal a day.
Obviously I am exaggerating, but while the job of these teachers is to inspire us to grow and be obedient to the leading of the Spirit these teachings can be easily used to promote an idea of holiness that is completely unsustainable and misguided. These things at the right time are awesome to do, but without wisdom they can be seen as a call to holiness through living tired and miserable which is what happens because it's impossible to succeed in living such a lifestyle out.
Let''s step back and realize that being busy isn't the same as being Godly. God has called us to be wise stewards of our time getting the most effective use out of it by working smart not just hard. But people still wonder after an amazing church service where they dance and jump around with every ounce of strength they have within them why they feel to drained to apply anything they learned in the days following.
Just remember that every person you encounter (including in the church) is going to want more out of you, so make sure you're following after the Spirit to discern what your priorities should be. If God's been putting it on your heart to get up at 6:00 in the morning to pray than maybe you shouldn't be staying up doing late night praise even if another person sincerely thinks you should be (Ouch!) I'm not discouraging honest praise out of faith or a heart of gladness, but even your spiritual leaders know not to kill themselves so that they can do things the next day.
God would prefer a consistent daily walk than a sporadic one that peaks at church with praisng from a place of false religion, obligation, or getting into the moment because everyone else is doing it. That may satisfy some made up religious standard but not God's.. Don't use what I'm saying as an excuse to not worship because you're timid or don't feel like it; just make sure you can walk the next day okay. Just as faith without works is dead works without faith is meaningless, and well intended actions out of a sincere heart do nothing when done without Wisdom.
Here is my point: don't burn yourself out trying to give your all for God by draining yourself dry whenever you can! Is there a time when you should work and give of yourself until you're drained? Sure. But my question is: Should this be your manner of life? Absolutely not. And after your time of extreme work is done do you know what you need to do, sleep! Your body needs it you can't get away from that. Your performance for God will suffer if you don't. If you want to Love God with all you have that is great! Do it be being a wise steward of your time. Desire to get more out of your instead of making more of it that is ineffective.
There is so much more I would like to get into including answering some objections to this idea, but you'll have to wait until next time My next blog post will be about Godly rest, where I will be using biblical examples to give understanding as to how we should approach rest as Christians. You won't want to miss it!
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