December 2, 2019
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Oh, you can see it at an airport. You can see it in a conference. You can see it whenever people are in a new place. Right away they're looking for a plug. Yeah, you know why? Because we all have cell phones. That's why. And because those cell phones don't run forever. And it's not a good thing when you really need to communicate with somebody and that thing has a battery that's dying. So we're all trying to recharge the battery. I sometimes think I'm like that. We all are like that. Wouldn't it be nice if people could plug in and get recharged like one of those batteries? I think it's called a night's sleep probably. Well, I can't allow my cell phone to be dead. There's too much going on in this ministry, so I need to put that little phone down sometimes, plug it into recharge so it's good to go again.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Stopping to Recharge."
A cell phone needs some down time to recharge so it can serve again, and so do you and I. In fact, God created you that way. That's the Sabbath principle that He built into our creation, and He doesn't intend for us to work all the time. He made us so we would take regular rest. It's part of the creation.
Maybe you're running down fast. You're stressed, you're fatigued, you're more impatient, on edge, more irritable, and you're addicted to your own adrenaline. If you keep driving at this speed, you're going to go over the edge…or the people around you are. It's time for the stress-reduction prescription in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Psalm 23 beginning in verse 1. Familiar words: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul." So where do you get restored? By quiet waters where your Shepherd might be trying to lead you right now. But you haven't allowed any time lately for quiet waters, have you? You're saying, "I'm too busy to take a timeout." Well, you're too busy not to.
It's the down time that recharges the battery of my cell phone. And it's not wasted time. If I don't give it that recovery time, it eventually won't work at all! It's down time that recharges your battery. And it's not wasted time. If you don't allow that recovery time, eventually you won't work at all!
I know how a make-it-happen, conscientious, goal-oriented, driven person can fill up their life until there are just no margins. I'm that kind of person. I've done it. But I also know it costs way too much. It costs you in your personal peace, in your close relationships, even in your performance and your creativity. God created us in such a way that when we take time out to rest and restore, we actually get a lot more done in a lot less time!
You may very well need some "quiet waters" time. And it won't happen unless you make a non-negotiable commitment to it - put it in your calendar. And then you need to stand back, re-examine your priorities, and literally schedule regular times to recharge; to put some margins back in your life, like setting a firm quitting time, getting to bed earlier, or time off to balance extended time on. Without those balancing mechanisms, you literally begin to burn out. And if you don't get your Sabbaths, the Bible seems to indicate that one day your Sabbaths will come to get you all at once.
The alternative is just continuing to run down, like you have been. Your physical and emotional battery cannot run indefinitely. You have to stop to recharge. And when you do, you'll be able to run again at full strength.