Importance of Rest and Pausing in Life
About four months ago, I started what I believe will be a lifelong commitment to fitness. I began rethinking how I eat and what I put into my body. I committed to getting to the gym at least every other day. Most of all, I took an honest look at my overall health and decided I want to be in better shape—physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Along the way, I’ve learned a lot about fitness and working out, and I’ve noticed how closely it parallels my walk with God and having a healthy, vibrant relationship with Jesus. One of the most important disciplines in both physical and spiritual health is learning how to rest—how to pause.
I came across some statistics on a sports foundation website that explain what really happens when you rest your physical body.
When you stop running, jumping, or practicing, your body doesn’t stop working. Inside, big things are happening:
- Muscles repair and grow stronger. Every time you train, tiny muscle fibers stretch and break. Rest is when they heal and rebuild—even tougher than before.Energy tanks refill. Imagine your body is a battery.
- Every workout drains some power. Rest days recharge you so you can play full out next time.
- Your brain processes skills. Learning a new move? Your brain stores that memory during downtime. Rest isn’t just for muscles—it’s for your mind too.
If you’re not used to working out regularly, you may not realize that resting and not exercising is just as important as showing up at the gym.
That got me thinking about what happens when we rest our minds and our spiritual lives.
When we pause spiritually, we recalibrate with God and align ourselves with His will. We do this through the Bible and by asking the Holy Spirit to guide and impress truth on our hearts.
Jesus modeled this for us. He showed us the importance of resting and spending intentional time with God each day.
Mark 1:35 says:
“Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”
Jesus didn’t do this because He needed it—He did it because God knew we would need it. When we take intentional pauses each day to seek what God wants for us, we can walk with confidence, no matter what the day brings.
Another powerful form of resting or pausing is learning to quiet our mouths when situations arise. God reminds us that unchecked human anger doesn’t lead to righteousness.
James 1:19–20 says:
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”
I don’t know about you, but I want all of my interactions on this earth to fully represent Christ, no matter who it is. If we simply pause before we speak we position ourselves to stay in control of our emotions and allow the Holy Spirit to intervene in all conversations that could otherwise get out of hand.
These are just a few things to think about when it comes to resting/pausing and the kind of recharging that can happen in both our physical bodies and our spiritual lives. When we are twice as committed to listening as we are to speaking, good things tend to follow in every interaction.
Today, be intentional with your time and commit to resting your mind AND your mouth and see God give you strength you didn’t know you had for battles you haven’t even fought yet.