Day 336
Mark 4:36 J.B. Phillips
"So they sent the crowd home and took him with them in the small boat in which he had been sitting, accompanied by other small craft."
One day, Jesus was tired after teaching a crowd of people for a while. That evening, He said to His disciples, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake." (Mark 4:35 J.B. Phillips) Jesus loved people so much that He came to die for them. However, He could only take so much because He was human. When the people wanted to hang around too long, He had to send them away so He and His disciples could rest.
It is important that we understand and respect the limitations of our human bodies as we serve the Lord. There will always be someone else to counsel or encourage, someone else to pray for or someone else to minister to in some way. However, if we are going to give God our best, we must rest. There is no point in failing to complete our divine assignments because we wore ourselves out early. There may be times when we have to push harder than normal, but we must not overdo overdoing. Jesus was obviously exhausted in the account we read in Mark 4. He was fast asleep in the middle of a storm. He had an opportunity to minister to more people, because they did not voluntarily leave. However, He realized they should stop for the rest of the day, and He allowed His disciples to send the crowd away.
Let us learn from the example of Jesus. We must take time to rest. We must also respect the time of other Christians and ministers, as well as laymen. Everyone needs rest, and we must be considerate. That does not mean we should deny ourselves help we need, but we must simply use good judgment when we get help. For example, we should attend all our regular church services and receive from the Lord through the gifts He has blessed us with. When we are faithful in church attendance, it will help eliminate our need for individual attention, since whatever we need is often addressed during the service, if our teachers are led by the Spirit of God.
I will respect my body and rest. I will respect the humanity of others by being considerate of their time and doing as much as I can to help myself.