Whatever You Do

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free.

-1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17, 23; James 2:12 (NLT)

There are three things in life: work, celebration, and rest.  If you have not rested, then your work will not be productive and enjoyable.  Also, if you do not rest, you lack the energy and fountain of vitality to celebrate.

You can't celebrate and rest.

After work, we need rest; but we often celebrate after work, before we rest.  We celebrate while we are tired which is ok as long as we are aware of our tiredness.  If we are out of touch with our exhaustion, our celebration in tiredness will be less enjoyable.

But, if we acknowledge our exhaustion, but still want to celebrate, we can have a (lower energy) good time still.  The greatest celebrating comes after rest.  There is work and planning, then a pause for rest before celebrating for maximum enjoyment.

You can not celebrate and work.  

I remember an absurd advertisement for a workplace where they beckoned potential employees  to come work, "in a party-like atmosphere".  People who celebrate while working (all day or night) are not productive and quickly lose their jobs.

You can not work and rest.  

The only people paid to sleep on the job are firemen who are on-duty while sleeping, ready to get up and go on a call, if need be.  Most of the rest of us will not be productive, if we sleep or rest while on the job, the whole time.

We need to rest well to work well and we need to rest well to celebrate well.  Life is harder without rest.  We can not rest while we work and the need for rest tempers our ability to celebrate.

Balance, rhythm, and wholeness.

Work is good and celebration is good, but a life of all work or all celebration is out of balance.  Rest is good and essential, but the life spent only resting is not good and we call that slothfulness or laziness.  The rhythm of life is work, rest, celebration, and rest.  Then, back to work.

Skipping any step will bring us out of balance and wholeness.  For example, if you go straight to celebration after work, then your ability to enjoyably celebrate is limited and you will need more rest after that limited celebration, and you will need to acknowledge your energy level to celebrate as limited.

I want to pause and acknowledge that my perspective is that of an introvert.  Extroverts do get energized by being around people.  But they also need their rest.

Limits

The limits issue means that as human beings, we have limits; and if we ignore them, we will be in trouble.  The person who comes home from work and grouches at their family or melts down in stress out of proportion to the stress at hand is in need of rest.  Substance abuse (over or under the counter) also is fueled by out of touch behavior that does not acknowledge one's limits and need for rest.

People take their drug rather than getting rest and it ends up being unwholesome or destructive for them and the ones who love them.  People who neglect rest after celebration also pay a price in their work, in it being unproductive and less enjoyable.

"Whatever you do."

I think that "whatever you do", is an excellent motto in life, if the whatever is linked to the Lord.  Whether you raise the dead or take a nap, do it in the Lord.  Let your life be "in the" and "of the" Lord.

We do not have compartmentalized lives of acting one way here and another way there.  We want to be godly and walkers with Christ in the light and in the dark; when we are seen by others and when we are alone or anonymous.  At this place or that other place, we always want to walk in the light of the Lord's sight.