Unclutter Your Lives - Make Room for Rest

Mark 6:31 (ESV)

And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

I did something right this week.  I was going to have three evenings in a row with activities at church.  Normally, because of where we live, I would have stayed straight through each day from 9=8:30 in the morning till 9 or later at night.  The thought of it made me tired.  So, at Linda’s suggestion, I did something different.  I decluttered my schedule. On two of the days, I got to church a little earlier in the day.  On those days, I took off in the late afternoon to go home – got an hour or two rest and then came back.  That little rest made all the difference. I got more done. I had a better attitude.  I enjoyed my work, my life and my day more… by just taking time to go to a quiet place, alone with Linda, and our Lord.  

That’s what Jesus is encouraging the disciples to do in Mark 6.  The disciples are just returning from a very busy mission trip.  They have been preaching, healing the sick, casting out demons every place they went.  They were both excited and exhausted… Even after they come back to Jesus there are so many people coming to them… they are so busy that Mark tells us that they “had no leisure, even to eat.”  Jesus invites them to take some time.  “Come away by yourselves,” He says, “to a desolate place and rest a while.”  That invitation is also for you and me.  He knows how busy your lives – how many hours you spend at work… how some of you are constantly on the road.  He knows that your family life often has something going on every night of the week.  He knows how you feel pulled in too many directions.  He knows how doing the same job over and over for so many years can itself become so routine it becomes exhausting… he knows the even deeper exhaustion that can be brought on by guilt… by a sense of failure… by the feeling not only that you can’t please everybody but worse that sometimes you can’t please anyone… by the worry “Am I really accomplishing anything?”

So it is that Jesus also invites you and me to come away to a desolate place - a solitary place, away from the hustle and bustle and noise of life.  He wants us to declutter our schedules… to make room for rest.  There is just too much noise and hurry in our lives.  Life has become one constant hurry…  That hurry gives us no time for one another… no time for love… no time for God.  “Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life.  Hurry lies behind much of the anger and frustration of modern life.  Hurry prevents us from receiving love from the Father or giving it to His children.  That’s why Jesus never hurried.”  That’s why Jesus invites us to regularly step away to a quiet place with Him.

He knows that He is the only one who is indispensible.   After all He is the Savior.  Jesus is the one who carried our sorrows and our illnesses… and our burdens… and our sins to the cross.  He is the One who died for you and me.  He is the one who rose from the dead, triumphant over sin and death.  Jesus is One who says, “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”    Come away by yourselves,” He says, “to a desolate place and rest a while.”  The word Jesus uses for rest means “to permit yourself to cease from labor in order to recover and collect his strength.”  He knows that without such times of rest you and I will have nothing to offer anyone else.  We will get all used up. We will run out of gas.  So if you need permission… you have the invitation of the King of kings… to take time daily… weekly… monthly… yearly to come away with Him… to lay your burdens and worries and fears on His shoulders.. to hear His word of forgiveness… to be restored and refilled by His love. 

This text is how Jesus took away any guilt I had about going home for a couple of hours.  No matter what others may think, this is His invitation… because he knows that He… not me… not you… is indispensable…  So unclutter your schedule… take time… Come to the quiet place.  Come away by yourselves,” He says, “to a desolate place and rest a while.”  Amen.