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Time is always a premium, so says the wise sages of today.

We did a very simple illustration in cell.

All of us have different jobs. Within these jobs, there are different tasks. It can be anything. Something you have done today or yesterday. For instance:

1)    Photostat 15 copies of training materials
2)    Prepare a bill to be passed out
3)    Create a program
4)    Create a Purchase Order
5)    Follow up on client on issues

Now, in your mind, those tasks achieve something called an objective. And to achieve those objectives, you have steps, for instance, picking up the phone, emailing your procurement department etc.

Ok, imagine you are taken back into the middle ages.

Now imagine you are in the same position as you are now and you need to achieve the same task or equivalent.

How would you do it using what we have in the middle ages?

Interesting ideas like communicating via pigeons, doing powerpoint illustration with chalk on a cave wall, riding a horse to client’s place etc came out. But it just goes to show, that through the years, technology have helped us save millions of hours in doing things, and yet, we say time is a premium.

How did we do business before e-mail? Or even fax?

How did anything get done at all without SMS, or video conferencing?

In fact, how did people change channel without remote control?

But still we come back to the same place with God: No time, Lord.

Our walk with God has no shortcuts. Nothing. We need to spend time with God the same way as Daniel did thousands of years ago. We don’t have remote control, sms or email to get God to answer faster or talk to Him quicker. So when we say no time for God, for ministry, it’s simply because we have no shortcuts with the Lord.

Mark 6 tells of an interesting chapter in Jesus’ ministry:

“7Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil[b] spirits. 

8These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. 10Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.” 

12They went out and preached that people should repent. 13They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”
Actually, the more interesting part is in verse 30:

 ” 30The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

So here we have the disciples, after their short term missions trip, coming back to tell Jesus about all the stuff that has been happening. Instead of saying, “ok, let’s get to work,” Jesus observed that they were simply overloaded and told them to get some rest. It’s interesting.

Many of us work and serve. For me, nights from Wednesday onwards are usually geared for ministry. It’s rewarding in its own way but sometimes, burnout becomes a high probability. When that is close to approaching, Jesus says, come on guys, let’s get some rest. Take a break.

From that line in verse 30, we can derive 3 ways for us to rest and recharge.

1) With Him

He didn’t say, go on a break. He said, come WITH me.

In other words, he’s saying rest, but rest in me.

“Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28

Our walk, our relationship with him is paramount. To the newer Christians, the bible says that Jesus is our High Priest in the order of Melchizidek. We no longer need to go to the levitical priests like the old testaments, because Jesus becomes our permanent high priest. He provides the WAY to God, so we can have the WORD of God.

This is a personal relationship with Him. Yes, in James 5:16, God teaches about accountability and confessing our sins to each other, and that we are a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), but only God forgive sins. Our confession to each other is for inner healing, but at the end forgiveness only is from the Lord.

“Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?” Mark 2:7

So in truth relationship with him is most important. We can have a great relationship with each other, but none of us are high priests that can take away sins. Only Jesus heals. He can heal through us, but the source is only Him. He is the only one that can give us rest.

So, I really do advocate rest from ministries when required. These so called ’sabbaticals’ are actually good, and we shouldn’t judge/begrudge ministers who step back from ministry for a while. I know some might not agree, but we need to look at each case on its own. For instance, if I’ve been serving non-stop and request a 1-2 months break from a ministry to look into my family, career, wedding etc, that’s very viable. It saves ministers from burning out.

Another extreme case, is to take a vacation from all service responsibilities and ministries on a ’sabbatical’. These so called ’sabbaticals’ sometimes go over a year or so. You’d think the church was requesting for kidney donors by the way some make of their ministry. In these cases, unless there is a very special case, most ministers are probably already running on their own steam and looking for a way out. This still remains a cagey subject to some, (I don’t know why–service should become a lifestyle to us anyway), so that will take a whole other post to discuss.

So, the first step in getting our rest: Rest With Him.

2)    By Yourselves

In other words, no activities, except for Him. Corporate prayer meetings are great but at some point, we’ll need to break away and start our own relationship with God. This is a personal one on one time. No girlfriends, no wives, no husbands, no parents, no cell members, no pastors, no worship leaders nobody should define this relationship for you. This is YOU.

Especially couples, it’s very important to understand. Yes, we need to pray and to fellowship together and be familiar with having Him in our relationship, but we must always respect each others time alone. If someone needs to go off some place to seek the Lord, allow that person to do it! I know of a pastor who takes a week break a year to seek Christ at a remote place. The family will need to understand that. Not everything needs to be done as a couple, your private walk is simply that.

This also extends to other parts of your relationship with Christ. I never really understood the concept where some couples come to the conclusion that the guy pays for offering and tithes for the both of them. I’m sorry, that is simply just amazing to me. It’s like, sure, he pays for dinner, he pays for lunch, he pays for the shopping, and yeah, he pays her tithes too.

Why?

The guy likely has little or no control over his ‘better’ half, for one reason, and does not have the gumption or discipline to say no. Or likely, the guy is also misled into this kind of teaching that men should do everything, including paying tithes. It’s your personal relationship with God, your personal sacrifice, your personal giving, your personal understanding. So, please, get away from these, “let’s do everything together!” philosophy. You don’t need to get a mediator to stand between you. We already have one. His name is Jesus.

3)    Quiet Place

Finally, get a place free from everything and use it. This is vital. In our busy lives as executives, engineers, business people etc, it’s really hard to find a quiet place. This is tied down to point 2). It’s your quiet place. Not you and your other half. It’s you. God wants to speak to you and He might not want others being a lamp post in that relationship, including your wife/husband.

This quiet place can be anywhere, in a car, in a retreat, in the mountains, in your special room in your house. It can even be in the toilet, since many guys find that particular room fairly relaxing. Some do it in the car, which is a good option, since it tunes you out from the jam, but special care needs to be taken care in terms of concentrating on the road.

And as always, for the couples especially, it’s vital that the other person should understand: Your date with God is YOUR DATE with God. Tell him/her, don’t be involved. Get your own time.I’ll see you in half an hour, or I’ll call you back. Don’t bother us.

Of course, in a nicer way that that, if possible

Guard your time with God, by yourself, in your quiet place.

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Every Christian would be familiar with the famous Sermon on the Mount. It’s Jesus’ breakout moment, in it, lies the basic landscape of Christian tenets. One of the most famous verses in the bible is found in Matthew 5:13-16:

“¹³“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

 ¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

And here’s a look deeper into these passages, in light of our marketplace ministries.

The first thing is to look into the first of these two illustrations: Salt. What does Salt do?

1) Salt preserves food.

In the time that Jesus spoke there were no refrigerators to store the meat and it was very hot. No Panasonic, Sanyo and Electrolux. The meat could spoil in the heat so salt was rubbed on the meat to preserve it. The salt prevented the meat from spoiling. How? According to the wisdom of HowStuffWorks,com:

Salting, especially of meat, is an ancient preservation technique. The salt draws out moisture and creates an environment inhospitable to bacteria. If salted in cold weather (so that the meat does not spoil while the salt has time to take effect), salted meat can last for years.

Society is turning for the worse. I mean, here’s something for us: Jesus never told us that He would bring peace on earth. His goal wasn’t to bring peace to the world because the world has fallen, and in conflict with God, and any change to that would face resistance. Jesus has indeed brought peace and hope to those who call on His name and believe, but for those who reject the gospel, there will not be any reconciliation. In Matthew 10:34, He says it outrightly that He didn’t come to bring peace but the sword. He offers peace, but to the world that rejects Him, there will be division. His message is of peace, but is also controversial and is the truth. Truth hurts, and for those who can’t handle it, they rebel against it. So, the world will never be at peace, as a reaction to His message. Hostility is the effect of His message in the world of unbelievers, not the content. The society of this world has been in decay eversince Man gave the key to this world to Satan.

But if Christians were suddenly taken off the scene there would be even quicker decay. The church is the preservative. Christian is the salt preserving God’s moral standards. Even a small percentage of Christians can have a profound effect on keeping society from decaying just like a little salt can preserve meat. Why do we bother to preserve a dying world? Because of the people. Jesus found us when we were lost, and it is our life mission as Christians to bring this message of hope wherever He places us in.

In some parts of the world, Churches have compromised the Message to accommodate political correctness. Black and white becomes grey; what seemed like a straightforward response is now muted because we no longer want to appear exclusive, old-fashioned, non-mainstream. In many ways, the post-modern culture is easier to adapt than many of the so called hardline teachings we find in the bible. As christians in this age, in this marketplace, we cannot compromise the Word, because that’s the only authority we should base our actions and principles upon.We are the salt of this earth and we are called to preserve what is good in our workplace and society through the truth of the gospel.

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