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Rest Was Made for Man

“The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.” — Mark 2:27

I read and reflected on today’s Gospel and honestly, it felt like Jesus was calling me out.

The Pharisees were furious because the disciples were plucking ears of corn on the Sabbath. All that anger just for grabbing a snack. But that was work, and work on the Sabbath? For the Pharisees, unthinkable. Jesus’ response cuts down the legs of their high horses:

The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.

Rest was created for us.

But most of the time, I treat it like something that gets in the way of my productivity.

Always Be Shipping

I work as a software engineer, and our industry has a weird relationship with rest. We glorify the hustle. We celebrate the developer who codes all weekend on side projects which makes money for them. We take care to keep our continuous green boxes in our GitHub contribution graphs like Snapchat streaks with our friends (remember those?).

I’ve done it (and continuing to do it) too. I’ve delayed spending Netflix weeknights with my wife because I wanted to work on side projects first. I’ve scrolled LinkedIn on Sunday mornings, feeling guilty that I wasn’t being “productive” enough.

I started working in this industry back in 2019, and somewhere along the way, I started believing that my worth was tied to my output. That rest was only for those who did the hard work first. That taking a day off meant I was falling behind someone else who was grinding harder.

The Pharisees made the Sabbath about rules and performance. I made rest about guilt and productivity metrics.

When Did We Forget How to Stop?

I know rest is important. I’ve read a lot of research on sleep, stress, and burnout. I was close to experiencing burnout myself.

But knowing rest is important and actually resting are two very different things.

Just last week, I caught myself checking Slack on Saturday morning “just in case.” I chucked it up to “being excited being part of a new team.” (I only started working for this company 2 weeks ago) But I wasn’t on call. There was no emergency. I just... couldn’t turn it off. It was a habit.

From the looks of it, I’ve trained myself to be uncomfortable with rest. Silence feels wrong. Stillness feels wasteful. A day without code commits feels unproductive.

But Jesus says the Sabbath was made for me. Not for my employer. Not for my GitHub profile. For me.

Refactoring My Rest

I don’t have all the answers, but here’s what I’m trying:

  • Scheduling my day. I genuinely believe it's okay to do side projects (like I said, I'm doing it myself) and to continue to be “productive” outside of work hours. What's not okay is letting productivity take over my entire free time. So now, I block out specific times for work, side projects, time with my wife and loved ones, and rest. When it’s rest time, I try to fully disconnect.
  • Consistent prayer. These are my little pockets of peace. Creating space for God to speak into my life instead of filling every moment with noise has made such a positive impact not just for my personal life, but surprisingly on my work performance too. Prayer helps me focus on what really matters.
  • Protecting Sundays. This is the hardest one. I’m trying to actually observe a day of rest. No work Slack. No side projects. Just being. And honestly, I haven’t done it yet. It feels wrong, like I’m wasting time. But maybe that’s the point. Maybe I need to relearn that my value isn’t in what I produce. But yeah, I'll let you know if I end up doing it.
  • Trusting God. During the moments I do rest, I’m declaring that the world won’t fall apart without me constantly working. That God is still God, and He's got my back even when I’m not at my keyboard. Little leaps of faith.

The Gift We Keep Refusing

Jesus didn’t die and rise again so we could burn ourselves out for startups and sprints. He came so we could have life, and have it abundantly. And abundance includes rest. Real rest. The kind that restores your soul.

Rest is a gift from a God who knows we need to stop, to breathe, to remember we’re human. Not machines. Not productivity metrics on a dashboard.

I’m learning to receive that gift again. Because if the Lord says rest was made for me, maybe it’s time I actually believed Him.

Lord Jesus,
Teach me to rest the way You intended.
Help me trust that my worth isn’t in my work,
and that You’re still Lord even when I’m not productive.
Give me the courage to stop, to breathe, to be still.
Remind me that rest is Your gift to me.
Help me receive it with gratitude.
Amen.

What’s your relationship with rest? Are you comfortable with stillness, or do you struggle like I do? I’d love to hear your thoughts at matthew@thedevout.dev.