In the 1860’s, Mark Twain took a steamboat tour of Europe and the Holy Land, during which he visited Rome. He wrote about his experience there:
“Afterward we walked up and down one of the most popular streets for some time, and wishing we could export some of it to our restless, driving, vitality-consuming marts at home. Just in this matter lies one of the main charms of Europe — comfort. In America, we hurry — which is well, but when the day’s work is done, we go on thinking of losses and gains, we plan for the morrow, we even carry our business cares to bed with us, and toss and worry over them when we ought to be restoring our racked bodies and brains with sleep. We burn up our energies with these excitements, and either die early or drop into a lean and mean old age at a time of life which they call a man’s prime in Europe. When an acre of ground has produced long and well, we let it life fallow and rest for a season; we take no man clear across the continent in the same coach he started in — the coach is stabled somewhere on the plains, and its heated machinery is allowed to cool for a few days; when a razor has seen long service and refuses to hold an edge, the barber lays it away for a few weeks, and the edge comes back of its own accord. We bestow thoughtful care upon inanimate objects, but none upon ourselves. What a robust people, what a nation of thinkers we might be, if we would only lay ourselves on the shelf occasionally, and renew our edges!” (p. 160)
“Lay yourself on the shelf, and renew your edges” — This is basically what Jesus was telling His disciples in Mark 6:31, “And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.’ (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)”
Jesus’ disciples found themselves in an extremely busy time and Jesus told them: “Come away … and rest.” Many of us are similarly busy, and we need to hear this word from Jesus as His disciples too: “Come away … and rest.” Listen and see how you need to apply Jesus words here to your own life: Continue reading →
