You Don’t Have to Hustle to Be Holy—You Were Created to Rest

If God rested, then why can’t I?

Why won’t I?

Why do I keep running when the Creator of the universe and everything in it took a break after speaking them into existence? You ever think about that? Six days. Sky, sea, sun, land, every tree, every creeping thing, us… And then He rested.

Not because He was tired. But because He was setting the tone. Leaving us a rhythm. Showing us how to be.

Jesus did the same. He napped in boats, y’all! He got away from the crowd on purpose. He walked in silence. He withdrew to lonely places—not because He didn’t love people—but because He knew how to love from a full cup. He rested not in reaction to burnout, but in rhythm with the Father.

But me? I sometimes still wait until I’m nearly empty to rest. Until I’m already lagging, thinking snappy and raggedy thoughts, allowing myself to be stretched too thin. Until my body says no. Until my spirit says, enough. And still, sometimes I question if I’ve earned rest. The audacity! I may lay down, but I don’t really rest. I feel guilty. I want rest, but I want guilt-free, shame-free rest!

And that’s when I hear God whisper, Who told you that?

• Who told you that your value is in what you produce?
• Who told you that holiness means hustle?
• Who told you that stopping is failure?

The truth of the matter is, in a world that worships speed and “hustle culture”, rest is resistance. Rest is spiritual. Rest is radical. Rest is obedience. Rest is a holy reclamation of the truth that we are not machines. We are light- and image-bearers.

And rest isn’t only sleep, though we oftentimes oversimplify it as such. It’s not only crashing at the end of a long day.

Real rest, true rest, is layered. It’s deeper. It’s more than closing your eyes—it’s opening your spirit. There are 7 types of rest, and every one of them is holy:

1. Physical Rest is both passive and active. It’s sleep and naps, yes. But it’s also yoga, stretching, deep breathing—anything that brings your body back to center, back into alignment.
2. Mental Rest is permission to slow or pause your thinking. It looks like short breaks throughout the day. A quiet list of the things swirling in your mind. A moment to exhale between the meetings and the noise.
3. Sensory Rest means unplugging—turning off the bright lights, muting the background noise, closing your eyes, and letting silence hold and console you.
4. Creative Rest is honoring the awe and wonder you forgot you needed. It’s walking by water, watching the trees, being surrounded by beauty without trying to capture it. It’s art for the soul, not for the feed. It’s enjoying the arts and “nature”.
5. Emotional Rest is being able to say what you really feel without editing yourself to please people. It’s telling the truth about how you’re doing—and not apologizing for it.
6. Social Rest is knowing the difference between people who pour into you and people who pull from you. It’s being nourished by presence, not depleted by performance.
7. Spiritual Rest is the big one. It’s not just reading about God—it’s being with God. Being known. It’s about creating a “deep sense of belonging, love, acceptance and purpose” by adding prayer, meditation and being in community.

I don’t know about you, but I need every single one of those. Some days, all at once.

This is our reminder: You don’t have to earn rest. You simply have to receive it. Lay it down. The pressure. The proving. The performance. Let it fall off your shoulders like a heavy coat on a warm day.

God is surely not measuring your worth by your output. He is inviting us back into a divine rhythm. One where peace leads. The one where presence matters more than productivity.

Take the nap.
Take the walk.
Turn your phone off.
Turn your worship on.
Let rest do what it was created to do: restore, renew and replenish you.

Have you ever noticed how soon after you take a break right when you feel like you’re about to be broken, you have a breakthrough?

Yeah, babes, that’s precisely why we rest!

Holy Pause: A Prayer for the Weary

God,
Thank You that rest is more than sleep. That’s it is spiritual resistance and renewal. It is physical alignment, creative wonder, and holy belonging. Rest is how we return to ourselves, and to You. Rest is how we return to God.

Help us stop before we’re stopped.
Help us hear You when You call us to rest.
Help us to stop asking if we’ve earned it, and start resting because You modeled it.
We are not machines. We are not on call for the world.
We are children of the Most High and we are created to rest.

So it is. And so we shall. Amen.