The Necessity for Rest
Mark 6:30-31
And the apostles gathered themselves together to Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.…


God has signified this to us in His material creation. He has made the earth to revolve on her axis in a way that brings her at stated seasons under light and shade; and He has proportioned the strength of man to those seasons.

I. We need rest PHYSICALLY. The hands begin to slacken and the eyes to close when God draws the curtain. It is one of those adaptations which show God's kindly purpose. The thoughtless or covetous over-tension of our own powers the hard driving of those under our control, the feeling that we can never get enough work out of our fellow creatures, the evil eye cast on their well-earned rest or harmless recreation, are all to be denounced and condemned.

II. This law applies also to MENTAL exertion. The mind must at times look away from things, as well as at them, if it is to see clearly and soundly. This is not necessarily waste time; when the mind is lying fallow it may be laying up capacity of stronger growth.

III. THE SPIRITUAL faculties are subject to the same law. A continual strain of active religious work is apt to deaden feeling and produce formality.

(John Ker, D. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.

WEB: The apostles gathered themselves together to Jesus, and they told him all things, whatever they had done, and whatever they had taught.




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