Holy Rhythms: Work and Rest as Worship

Depending on your generation— Gen Alpha, Gen Z, Millennial, or any before them—our culture shows a complicated relationship with work and rest. Both inside and outside the church, we often elevate or reduce them in opposite ways.

Work is either elevated as a virtue or reduced to striving and people-pleasing. Rest is either elevated as self-care or reduced to idleness or even idolatry. Neither distortion is what God intended.

If we set aside cultural preferences and return to the garden, and then look through the life of Jesus, we see something better. Work and rest were never meant to compete. They were designed to live alongside each other as rhythms of worship.

By “rhythms,” I mean the sacred patterns God designed: work and rest woven together, effort and delight held in harmony, labor and trust side by side. These are not rival camps but holy spaces where we meet his presence and join his mission.

Rhythms In Creation

In Genesis we see both God’s example and his command in alignment with these rhythms.

After God had “completed his work that he had done, and he rested… God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy” (Genesis 2:2–3). God set apart rest, not because he was weary, but because he delighted in what he had made.

Alongside this example, God gave Adam the calling of work: “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). And again, “the Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it” (Genesis 2:15). Work was part of God’s good design from the beginning. It was a calling to cultivate, to steward, and to participate in his mission.

In Eden, work and rest were gifts in tandem, woven into a single rhythm of worship.

Rhythms In Jesus

Just as the Father modeled rhythms in creation, in Jesus we see both the holiness of rest and the beauty of faithful work.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This eternal Word who spoke creation into existence entered the world without hurry yet never without purpose. He lingered in shared spaces, at tables with sinners and saints, on the road with his disciples, turning ordinary places into holy ground.

He withdrew to deserted places and prayed (Luke 5:16). He told his disciples to come away and rest for a while (Mark 6:31). In Gethsemane we glimpse his exhaustion when “an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him” (Luke 22:43). Rest for Jesus was not optional but a rhythm of obedience and communion with his Father.

At the same time, Jesus poured himself out in teaching, healing, and serving. He told parables that honored diligence and faithfulness, like the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30). He declared, “My Father is still working, and I am working also” (John 5:17). And at its climax, we witness the unfathomable work of the cross, where he bore the weight of sin and finished the task only he could complete.

Work and rest, when grounded in faithfulness, obedience, and worship, imitate the example of our Creator and our Savior. They are not rivals but partners in the holy rhythm of life with God.

Practicing Holy Rhythms

If God wove this rhythm into creation and Jesus embodied it, then we are invited to practice the same pattern.

Here are three ways to realign our lives with that truth:

1. Reframe your calendar. Do not just ask, “What do I need to accomplish?” Ask instead, “Where is God already at work, and how can I join him?” Additionally, empty space in your calendar is not wasted time. Rather, it can be an act of worship, making room for his presence, his people, and his interruptions.
2. Reassess your motives. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters… It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23–24). Ask, “Am I working because I trust him, or because I am anxious for outcomes?” “Am I resting in his command and example, or clinging to the world’s version of self-care?”
3. Invite Scripture and community. Holy rhythms are not built alone. God’s Word and God’s people refine us, helping us honor him with both diligence and delight, pressing hard after his mission while also learning to stop and enjoy him. Additionally, consider inviting a trusted friend or pastor to look over your calendar or help evaluate your commitments.

Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (John 15:5). When we believe him, our motivations and our rhythms change. Our growth, output, and healing come from God. We are freed to work diligently, knowing it does not depend on us, and freed to rest in his care, not in the fleeting comforts of the world. The better question is not “Am I doing or resting enough?” but “Am I walking with him in obedience and delight?”