Refuel, Reframe, Recalibrate: A 7-Day Devotional for Business ExecutivesSample

Working From Rest

In the corporate world, we wear busyness like a badge of honour. Our great work ethic features prominently on our resumés. We throw out hashtags like #hustle and #grind with great pride, and our go-to response for "How are you?" is (you guessed it), "Busy!"

Yet, as God-followers we are called to a different way of life. We are called to prioritize God over work. The Sabbath was so important to the Ancient of Days that He placed the Sabbath commandment - 'But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work' - right alongside commandments like 'thou shalt not kill' and 'thou shalt not commit adultery'. The Israelites were even called to give the land a Sabbath rest every seventh year. During that year there could be no planting, pruning, or harvesting. How counter-cultural is that!

While we do not want to import these rules carte-blanche into our new testament era, we do want to treasure in our hearts the values that underpin them. While the world may have to rely on their effort, wits, and luck for productivity and success, we have a more excellent way. God is our source and supply. Making a conscious decision not to strive for success but, instead, to trust that as we put God first He will take care of us, is nothing less than spiritual warfare (especially in the current corporate climate).

Father, I choose to start with You. I choose to start my week and my day seeking You first. I choose to make time for my family and to take care of Your temple (my body) instead of neglecting myself and my relationships to run after wealth, security, and status. Father, let my heart find rest in You. I bring all my anxiety - the pressure to provide and to perform - to You and ask You to still my anxious heart with Your perfect peace. I ask for Your supernatural productivity and all-powerful grace to overtake my work and indeed my life. Let my life be a testimony of Your grace, not my greatness. Amen.