Get more sleep!

A good night's rest can improve your health, mood and faith.

Five more minutes ... ten more minutes... maybe another hour...

Its 11:40 pm now. You anxiously look at the time knowing that you'll have to wake up early at six o'clock tomorrow for school or work. But you just do not know how to stop whatever you are doing—whether it's hanging out on social media or watching a movie.

We live in a world where sleeplessness has become the norm. There is a coolness about how late we can stay up to.

However, the Bible teaches something different. With that in mind, here are some very important reasons to get some sleep!

We need to sleep for a healthy life

Most of us need 7-9 hours of sleep each day for staying healthy. The benefits of sleeping include better immunity and an improved metabolism. Also, sleep decreases the risks of getting certain conditions like diabetes (source).

In addition, sleeping stops us being moody and irritable during the day. We can no longer use lack of rest as an excuse for our little outbursts of anger and tantrums.

We are told in the Bible that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. This means that we need to take care of our body and sleeping is one the best ways do so.

A gift from God

Psalm 127:2 says sleep is a blessing.

Sleeplessness can lead to anxiety and depression, therefore God, being a loving father, has given us the gift of rest.

As God's beloved, we are to receive God's gift graciously and not resist it.

Jesus slept

In Mark 4: 34-38 we find Jesus sleeping during a storm.

Jesus had been teaching by the lake and when the evening came, He and His disciples left the multitudes to cross over to the other side in a boat. As they travelled, “a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling." And so the disciples searched for Jesus in hope that he would calm the storms. But where do they find him?

Verse 38 says Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.

Most of us read this passage and are left quite shocked that Jesus, the Son of God, is sleeping. Jesus slept because He had faith in the goodness of God, and he was not afraid – he knew God would look after him.

We are not God

God does not sleep (Psalm 121:4), but we do.

Sleeping is the humbling moment in our lives where, after the busyness of the day, we commit ourselves into the hands of our father. When we sleep, we are telling God that we are not in charge and we recognise he is in control.

A word of warning

This article is in no way promoting slothfulness or laziness.

There is a fine line between sleeping to God's glory and sleeping to satisfy selfish desires. The Bible speaks harshly against this (Proverbs 20:13, Proverbs 6:9 - 10).