In this regard, all of our work, no matter what it may be, is an aspect of kingdom work. All of our work is able to bring honor and glory to God and to be an aspect of our Christian testimony before a watching world. For that reason, Christians should both work hard and rest well. Both are important. Though God created us to work, He did not create us exclusively for work. Adam was to have a fairly constant workweek consisting of six days of labor and one day of rest. It seems that in our culture we have drifted to extremes: we either recede into slothful practices and are not diligent in our work, or we become workaholics who never seem to stop and rest the way God designed. Neither of these approaches is biblical or healthy. To refrain from working diligently and faithfully is to virtually deny both the beauty of creation as well as the greater beauty of redemption in Christ. In His perfect wisdom, God infused our workweek with Sabbath rest. Everything about us needs rest. Our bodies do, but so also do our souls.
As part of our effort to glorify and enjoy God in all that we do, we need to rest from our labors in this world on a regular basis and focus on the blessed rest of heaven itself. Resting and worshiping on the Lord’s Day gives us a pleasant, rejuvenating foretaste of heaven. To work without resting is to act as though we are condemned slaves without hope of redemption from the curse of sin that has burdened our labors; and yet to refrain from working faithfully is a functional denial that we have been created and re-created in the image of God. Our vocations are thus not merely a means of providing for ourselves and for our families; they are opportunities to use our “talents” as faithfully and diligently as we can—all to the glory of God.
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