{"id":14424,"date":"2007-07-30T13:58:13","date_gmt":"2007-07-30T13:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2007\/07\/30\/day16\/"},"modified":"2007-07-30T13:58:13","modified_gmt":"2007-07-30T13:58:13","slug":"day16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/day16\/","title":{"rendered":"God Of Rest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the lord forever.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Character Check<\/strong>\nHow does my view of God contribute to my work habits?<\/p>\n\n

In Business Terms<\/strong>\nI have friends who are professional rodeo cowboys. In their quest to make the National Finals each year, they push themselves to compete in more than a hundred rodeos over ten months, often driving all night to get to the next one.<\/p>\n\n

As one said to me a few years ago, “It’s not the bulls that will wear you down, it’s seeing too many sunrises through the windshield of a pickup.” Like other professional athletes, most rodeo cowboys see their careers end sometime around their thirtieth birthday.<\/p>\n\n

A thousand times while growing up, I heard my parents or grandparents yawn, stretch, and say, “There’s no rest for the wicked.” To which the conditioned response was always, “And the righteous don’t need any.”<\/p>\n\n

But just as chronic fatigue will kill sexual passion, it can stifle spiritual passion. Worse, fatigue makes maintaining intimacy with God almost impossible. Passion dies. In its place is either a void or a hastily constructed, unconvincing facsimile of the real thing.<\/p>\n\n

—Ed Rowell<\/p>\n\n

Something to Think About<\/strong>\nPerpetual devotion to what a man calls his business is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.\n– Robert Louis Stevenson<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[1504],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[160],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3640,4708,4802,4867,5033,5046],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-14424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-ed-rowell","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-commitment","tax_ctp_tags-priorities","tax_ctp_tags-renewal","tax_ctp_tags-sabbath","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-formation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nGod Of Rest - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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