The gospel: the night shift worker
Imagine you work at a time when most of the world lies their heads on a pillow. You, on the other hand, have to work the hours where the light of day does not shine. The world has you pressed in on both sides. On one hand, you may have a regular job that you can just barely scrap up some extra change, the bills, the expenses, trying to survive, and trying to have some money you can save up someday for some thing.
But, you have this night shift, as everyone rests, you have to labor. It seems like no one understands your exhaustion and the extent of your fatigue. Fighting with everything in your power to keep your eyes awake. Your mood is naturally quick to be frustrated and annoyed. Your mind is weary and slow. Caffeine and other drugs are a needed aid, lest you fall asleep on the job! The night shift is truly a heavy burden upon the soul!
You have to put your efforts into this night shift; if you don’t, perhaps you won’t get that extra money to save, or perhaps an unexpected bill comes up that you need to pay. The night shift is your security, it’s what gives you the peace of mind, yet with a weary mind.
Once you get off your shift, you see the light of day, the sun rises, but you are falling. You are at the breaking point of sheer exhaustion. The rest of the world is wide awake, just waking up, but you have been through a whole night, laboring away, and they have no idea your struggle, no idea you could fall asleep in an instant. There is no greater relief than seeing the dawn, clocking out, and going home. You open the door to your home, you drop your things, and hopefully your brain isn’t too wired from being overtired that you can fall asleep right away, but either way, there is one thing you want: rest.
Yes, you just want to lie in your bed, fall asleep, deeply, and as long as you can. Because something incredible takes place when you sleep. When you sleep, your body regenerates. Regeneration in the body is when a living organism, a tiny little cell, regrows a new tissue to replace lost or damaged tissue. As you sleep, as you rest, a work is happening in your body. And, behold, after that long, wonderful, much-needed sleep, you wake up feeling new. You rise up out of that bed, refreshed. But, of course, maybe that is not your experience as a night shift worker; you always feel tired.
We live in a world that is trying and tiring. We live in a world that zaps life and energy from us, much like we are plugged into a matrix. But Jesus Christ came to disconnect us from this world and plug us into Him, so that we can find this regenerative rest in Him.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Whether you have a night shift or not, everyone has been oppressed by sin, damaged by sin, and confused by sin. I am not just talking about lying, or stealing, or “insert the name of the sin here.” I am talking deep in your nature, ever since the fall of mankind, we have been toiling for a sense of security and peace, or rest. And all our toiling is vain. Like the night shift worker, who truly needs rest, we are burdening ourselves spiritually. Trying to find our value in this world that is constantly changing, disappointing us, and damaging us. It’s been our curse.
“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground” (Genesis 3:19).
It was not God’s will that we end up in this place. It was God’s will that we live in paradise, free of labor and sweat. And, my beloved reader, it is still His will.
You see, this is why God sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world, to give us the rest we need in our toiling souls. In our exhausted souls. Jesus was the one working on behalf of sinful us to end our exhausting efforts. When Jesus went to the cross, He was finishing a work, ending a work, “clocking out on the job.”
God created for six days, and on the seventh day He rested from His works. Not that God was tired from working on creation, but God’s nature is both one of working and resting. And now, behold, God Himself in Jesus Christ is at the cross on the sixth day, the day man was made. Christ is at the cross in the fading hours of the sixth day, and declares,
“It is finished!” (John 19:30).
The life of Adam, that life of sweat, that life of sin and death, that life of oppression, that way away from God, that exhaustion, done! Dead! Destroyed by the death of Jesus Christ at the cross! And now, the sunsets, and behold, the Sabbath comes. Jesus’ body lay in a tomb, while the people rested on the Sabbath. Only a far greater Sabbath has occurred; now, man no longer has to be a night shift worker to be liked by God, or loved by God. God has fulfilled in His Son Jesus our Sabbath from the night shift. God has demonstrated His love at the cross! He wants no man to perish! You were included in that cross of Jesus, His blood was shed in mercy and love for you out of compassion for all your spiritual sweat and damage.
Jesus offers us both rest and new life. Just after a long, deep sleep, you feel like a new man. Jesus Christ achieved a new creation once He physically rose out of that tomb into a resurrected new body and a new spirit: a new life, new energy, uncreated, eternal, everlasting, now a life that God gives to you like a precious gift.
So, what are you laboring for? Come to Jesus, and get the rest you need for your soul! Let God regenerate your heart and spirit through Christ by faith, so that you can find rest.