I'm going to be honest, and I think I speak for most college students when I say this. It has been a busy semester. With assignments being due left and right, many college students tend to be up til the predawn hours working to get that important assignment completed.
I heard something recently on the 93.7 WDJC morning show Roxanne and Ace that a student's sleep schedule can determine approximately 25% of said student's grade in college, according to studies done within the past five years. According to that study, students who went to be and woke up at inconsistent times were more likely to have lower grades.
So what does all this mean? If we want to perform our best on that assignment that's so important or that test in Abstract Algebra, in my case, we need to rest. Rest is important not only for our physical life but it is important for our spiritual life as well.
We see an example of rest given to us by God in Genesis 2. In the first chapter of Genesis, we see God creating everything in six days. However, in the opening verses of Genesis 2, we see that God rests on the seventh day. When I was younger, I thought the same thing many people probably think today. Why does God need to rest if He's all-powerful?
We find out this answer in Exodus 20. In this passage of Scripture, God is giving Moses the Ten Commandments. In verses 8-11, God says to Moses, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day (ESV)."
What this passage shows us is that God gave us an example of rest to follow. “God made sure to make rest a priority so that His people could make it a pattern." (Jesse Stewart, Engage JSU from his message this past Monday night). Rest is an absolute must. Without rest, our bodies will become physically exhausted, and this can lead to ending up sick. Without rest in our spiritual life, our spiritual life will suffer as a result.
Another big thing we realize about rest, according to Jesse's message from Engage this past Monday night, is that we rest in being a child of God, and this is where we find our significance. Our significance is in Christ, so we can find rest in Him. Psalm 91, a passage I refer to a lot, refers to this as dwelling in God. When we dwell in God, we can rest in the total assurance that He is always going to provide for us.
To close, I'd say find something that provides you with rest. Whether that's in watching TV, or even in my case, playing college football on the PlayStation, just find something that allows you to rest and find rest in God. Live for those Sabbath moments.
