Permission to Breathe This Labor Day Weekend

[Watch our “Breathe” Video Below]

This weekend is set aside to rest from our labors. The holiday is defined as “a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.” [1] For most of us, it also marks the unofficial end of summer — one last long weekend before the pace of fall schedules, school calendars, and year-end deadlines takes over.

We all work hard, and for many of us the workload only seems to grow. Our phones buzz before our eyes are even open. AI tools promise to save us time but somehow leave us with more tasks to manage, not fewer. Notifications, news alerts, group chats, and a dozen open tabs all compete for our attention before we’ve even had coffee. Everything moves at a rapid, even frenetic pace, and it rarely slows down on its own — we have to choose to slow it down. A weekend of rest is well needed, and yet all too often we pack holiday weekends with travel, gatherings, home projects, and errands that leave us even more tired than before the weekend began. We call it a “day off,” but we rarely actually stop.

Even Our Service Can Be Without Rest

The same is true in our Christian “work.” We can be so busy serving the Lord that we fail to rest in Him. In the story of the meal at Lazarus’ house, Martha was so busy preparing and serving that she neglected what mattered—time alone at the feet of Jesus (Luke 10:38-42). Notice that Martha wasn’t doing anything wrong. Hospitality, service, and hard work are good things. Her problem wasn’t her labor; it was that her labor crowded out her Lord. She was “distracted with much serving” (Luke 10:40) while her sister Mary sat quietly at Jesus’ feet, listening to His word — and Jesus said Mary had chosen “that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42).

This weekend, it’s worth asking ourselves the same question: Is our busyness, even our good and godly busyness, crowding out our time with Jesus? Ministry, church responsibilities, family obligations, and a packed calendar of good things can quietly become a substitute for simply sitting at His feet. Ironically, we can grow spiritually exhausted from serving the very One who offers us rest.

Don’t let this weekend be a time of frenzy. Slow down, and take time to be with Jesus. Cease from your labor and rest in His love.

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

Jesus Is Our Sabbath

Jesus is our rest. He is our Sabbath. This world — and everything it streams, sells, scrolls past us, and pushes into our hands — will never satisfy or comfort us. We can fill a long weekend with every good and pleasant thing this world offers and still come home Monday feeling empty. Only Jesus can truly give what our souls long for. He doesn’t just offer us a break from labor; He offers us Himself.

This weekend, let go of the yoke of this world and… 

“take [Jesus’] yoke upon you, and learn of [Him]; for [He is] meek and lowly in heart: and you will find rest for your soul. [His] yoke is easy, and [His] burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29) 

A yoke is meant for work, not idleness — but the invitation here is to trade the exhausting, ill-fitting yoke of self-effort and worldly striving for the easy, well-fitted yoke of Christ. We were never meant to carry our burdens alone.

Be still this weekend and know that Jesus is God (Psalm 46:10). Put your phone down. Step away from the screen. Spend some time with the Master. Find rest at His feet and open His Word. Find comfort in the refreshing Fountain of Living Waters (Jeremiah 17:13) rather than the dry, cracked cisterns this world keeps offering us (Jeremiah 2:13). Jesus is our hope (Titus 1:1, Colossians 1:27), and He is our rest.

A Rest That Remains

This kind of rest isn’t just a nice idea for a three-day weekend — it’s a promise woven throughout Scripture. From the very beginning, God rested on the seventh day, not because He was weary, but as a pattern for us to follow (Genesis 2:2-3). Under the Old Covenant, the Sabbath pointed forward to something greater still to come. And in Christ, that “something greater” has arrived. He is our true and lasting rest, the fulfillment of everything the Sabbath was always meant to picture.

There remains, therefore, a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest… Hebrews 4:9-11

Notice the beautiful tension in that passage: we are told to “labor… to enter into that rest.” Entering God’s rest is not a labor of works, but of intention. It won’t happen by accident, and it certainly won’t happen if we let the world’s calendar fill every hour of our weekend. Resting in Christ is something we have to choose, again and again, especially when everything around us pulls us toward busyness.

So this Labor Day weekend, whatever else is on your calendar — the cookout, the last trip to the beach, the projects around the house — carve out a little time to cease from your own works and simply be with Him. Sit at His feet like Mary. Open His Word. Let Him remind you that your worth was never in what you produced, and that the rest your soul is longing for was purchased for you at the cross.

Take time to breathe.

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Happy Labor Day, from Reasons for Hope* Jesus

Read also:
Why Do We Call it Labor Day?
Skilled And Unskilled Laborer
The Equation of Life: Life = Labor + Leisure
Labor to Balance
Two Minutes of Refreshing for Labor Day Weekend
Breathe (video)
God Cares About Your Work and Your Rest
Sometimes the Most Spiritual Thing You Can Do Is Take a Nap