Rest is a Person and his name is Jesus! True rest is found in Jesus and in his finished work on the cross. Rest is also a principle. Unfortunately at this time of age, we don’t seem to understand that very well. It seems that now people are proud of their lack of sleep; they brag about the amount of caffeine they consume, and the small number of hours they sleep at night. In a world of #hustling #allnighters #coffeelife, we neglect our bodies and forget where our true rest and energy comes from.

Here are 5 principles of living in grace and not grinding through life:

1. Your day does not begin with coffee, it begins with a good night of sleep. In the book of Genesis we read, as God concluded each day of creation “And the evening and the morning were the first day”, and so on until the seventh day, where all creation was completed and God rested. When you grind in life you run red, when you grace through life you run in rest. Rest is spiritual, Elijah naped, Jesus slept in through the storm. The secret to raising up early is not just strong will (though that helps) but it’s a good night of sleep.

2. Start your morning with God, not with work. It is common to wake up and the first thing we do is check up our phones, emails, texts, Instagram, Facebook, and so on. But if we don’t spend time with God, then we are our own god because we think we are self-sufficient. Isaiah 40:31 tells us to wait upon the Lord, then we will run, walk and soar without faint or be weary. For our work not to be tiring, we must wait on God before we work. In Proverbs, it says that the blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow to it. There is a difference between busyness of life and blessing of the Lord. Busyness is simply being busy, working hard, a lot of activity. Blessing of the Lord puts God first and work flows out of it. Simply, start your day with God.

3. Live an unhurried life. When we rush through life we miss life. Jesus didn’t run nor use a running animal. He walked slow enough to be touch by a sick woman, and a crowd could keep up. We are Spirit-led people, not Spirit-driven! Though it is great to have goals and look towards the future, we are to live in the present. Tomorrow is a mystery, yesterday is history, but today is a present – it’s a gift. I like what one preacher said, “I am not busy, I am present. Even if have many things to do, I try to be present at whatever situation I am in”. Such a good motto to live by, “I am not busy, I am present”.

4. Keeping up with Kardashian will keep you out of grace. Each person has a different speed of life, if you constantly try to keep up with what everyone else is doing, you are going to burn out. The speed of a bicycle is different than the one from an airplane. Do not compete with someone that does not pull your load, share your past, it’s not headed in the same direction nor has your same promises. Grace has a pace, if we are going faster than the pace of grace we will lose our families. No wonder it’s often said, it’s lonely on the top. Why would it be lonely on the top? because so many people get there too fast, losing their family, faith and their health. If we go faster than we should, we lose God’s grace, if we go slower, we might limit it. Find your speed and don’t compete with others.

5. Take a day off! God gave us a commandment to keep the Sabbath and this is for our good. In fact, Israel was punished by death for breaking this commandment. There is punishment for working without rest – it’s killing us. The secret to enjoy the day off is to first work properly. If you don’t do your work during the week you will end up doing your work during your day off. Let the Holy Spirit guide your Sabbath. If you find something that works for you, do it but don’t impose it on others.

The rest of God is found in a Person. He said, if you are tired, come to me and I will give you rest (Mt.11:28). But then he continued, if you learn from me, you will find rest for your soul (Mt.11:29). So, rest is not only a person but also a principle that Jesus teaches us. The Lord doesn’t want us to only find rest in him, but also live out of that rest by getting enough sleep, starting our day right, slowing down our pace, not comparing with others and taking a day off.

This blog was written by Vladimir Savchuk.

Pastor Vlad is the lead pastor of Hungry Generation Church, an author of “Break Free” and “Single, Ready to Mingle” and a founder of free online school “Vlad’s School.” To download free e-books, sermon series, small group study guides go to vladimirsavchuk.com