The Matter of Leisure 2 (By Gbile Akanni)

…a purposeful venture

And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.Mark 6:31

... and rest a while
The purpose of the break is hereby clearly stated. It is so that they can rest a while. It is not a break to get into another fatigue. It is not a break to get into another rigour of ministry. Sometime, I take a break from what looks like the routine of work only to give myself over to very tasking mental work of writing a book. It draws so much from me that I get out exhausted again. Leisure is defined for rest a while. Rest is right. God Himself rested from all His works in the seventh day and was refreshed. He blessed the seventh day and even established it as a Sabbath of weekly rest for His people. They were to do no servile work in it. Work as little as cooking was prohibited. He was simply teaching them the concept of rest. It is right actually for me to take a day off each week for rest and retreat, just to rest a while. It is even a blessing if I can rest even my bowels from extraneous labour of chewing hard cords.It is to rest a while. This is very important. It is not rest forever or rest all the time. It is rest a while. Rest is only sweet after labour. It is only useful if it is sandwiched in between periods of labour. Those who have not laboured actually would need no rest. Rest would be sickness to a lazy man. Sincerely, a man who is not tired cannot have a deep sleep. A man who has not exhausted his energy does not enjoy a rest. He will still be restless in his leisure. Hence, rest of Sabbath is only after He has finished His work. We must be careful not to declare arbitrary holiday for a man who has not actually exerted himself in selfless labour. I will only be raising lazy men and women around, who have all the time to while away and you can be sure the devil will engage it to his own advantage. It will only breed gossips and distraction even for the individual.

It must be rest a while. Here again the duration is indicated. It is for 'a while'. This gives me an impression of a brief period of time. It is regulated time and limited. It is not an unlimited rest the Lord provided for His disciples. Rest is only cherished when it is short. It soon becomes boring when it is too long and makes a man to lose touch with his work. It is rest a while in order to continue on the field of labour. A break only to avoid a breakdown. It is not a breakdown of work culture and ethics. It is not to breakdown my routine discipline that took me years to build. It must not break down my daily time of waking up from bed. It must not break down my eating habit built over the years. Though the leisure provides a leisurely attitude; no rush to catch up with meetings; no appointments to meet; no extraneous fasting to observe, I must make sure it does not do damage to my personal discipline to wake up and keep my daily morning appointment with God. I must not in the guise of leisure develop appetite for what can easily addict me again. I must indeed engage the leisure to eat what is healthy both to my soul and my body.