Exploring the Gray: The "Productivity Gospel"

“Tired.” “Busy.” “I’ve got so much to do!”

Why are these the most common responses to the question of, “How are you?”

Why is rest a gray area?

We wear busyness like a badge of honor, touting sleepless nights and tight schedules as accomplishments.

We measure our worth by how much we do, determining our value by whether or not we’re doing enough (whatever enough is).

I’m guilty of this “productivity gospel,” thinking I’ll be more loved and more valuable if I prove how much I can accomplish.

But this isn’t the gospel, and it isn’t the truth.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28, emphasis added

Jesus didn’t invite us to come and find energy to do more, higher productivity levels, and added tasks to weekly schedules. So, why do we act like that’s what He said?

Why is it that as followers of the One who invites us to rest, we instead choose to perpetuate this ideal of, “Do more, have more responsibility, fill your schedule, sacrifice sleep to be more holy, and run yourself ragged to prove your faith”?

The idea of “rest” is mentioned more than 500 times in the Bible. 500 times! Not to mention there are multiple references to both God and Jesus resting.

So, why don’t we emphasize the importance of rest? If even God and Jesus rested, why can’t we? What are we afraid of?

For all the horrible aspects of COVID-19, maybe the American church needed the disruption of this virus. Maybe we needed to be challenged in our “always on the go” mindset. Maybe we needed to be forced into rest, into simpler lives, into unhurried rhythms in order to see that not only is God still with us in the calm, He is restoring us.

I still don’t know the balance of working hard and resting, of trying to become all that God created me to be while knowing that I am also already enough.

But I think if we never sit in the stillness, never acknowledge our human limitations, never intentionally choose to rest, we can never really know God—a God who rested.

And that’s something I don’t want to risk missing out on.

*“Rest” by the Gray Havens has been reminding me to embrace biblical rest.