"Your Body, Your Spirit, & a Good Night’s Sleep"

by: John Stonestreet &  G. Shane Morris

Because our bodies matter to God—and not just in a moral sense—our rest matters to God, too. So much so, He built it into the rhythms of the universe.

Do you proclaim with the psalmist: “Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, Lord, among the nations” (Psalm 57:8)?

Do you climb out of bed each morning and sing with joy about God’s unfailing love (Psalm 59:16)?

If not, (and for the record, I rarely do), maybe it’s because we are among the one in three Americans who don’t get enough sleep. Seriously.

Last year, the Centers for Disease Control declared a new public health crisis: sleep deprivation. Millions are failing night after night to get the recommended seven to nine hours of rest, putting them at increased risk for health problems from anxiety and depression to diabetes and heart disease.

By some estimates, widespread lack of sleep is costing American employers over $100 billion annually “in lost production, medical expenses, and sick leave.” More in-depth research finds that twenty straight hours without sleep is the equivalent of being legally drunk. And sleep specialists are sounding the alarm that “drowsy driving” is just as deadly as drunk driving—and more common.

So what’s behind this epidemic of sleep deprivation? Why are Americans these days so incapable of turning off the lights and going to bed? The answer is in our pockets.

A growing body of research demonstrates that the frequency of light produced by smart phones, laptops and tablets triggers the release of chemicals in our brains that tell us, “It’s time to wake up! Its morning!”

The dreary glow of screens also drains our concentration and creativity. A study in the journal Social Psychology reported that even having a smart phone nearby degraded the quality of subjects’ work and studies, because it reminded them of their online social circles.

So what do we do to counteract this perfect storm of sleep deprivation and tech addiction?

Writing at Motherboard, Kaleigh Rogers describes her radical solution: She banned screens from her home for a full month. No TV, computers, or smart phones. Cold turkey.

Unlike healthy eating and exercise—good habits that take weeks or months to make a difference—Rogers says her tech-free experiment yielded immediate and astonishing results.

The first few days were like a dream, she writes. “We’d come home, put on some music, cook dinner together, and then—unimaginably—we’d sit at the table and eat. After dinner, Stuart would play guitar while I read. Chores were done promptly and without hesitation. It was blissful.”

Okay, that’s all great. But BreakPoint isn’t a self-help program. So what’s all this got to do with a Christian worldview?

Well, let’s go back to the beginning. God created day and He created night. A time to work, and a time to rest. The Sabbath, remember, begins in the evening, and we enter into an earthly rest in anticipation of resting eternally in God’s presence.

Remember too that we’re not pure spirits. We’re embodied spirits. The state of our body affects the state of our spirit. It’s why we avoid drunkenness and bodily immorality. It’s why we try to stay fit.

It’s no wonder then, as Kate Shellnutt writes at Christianity Today, that those who get quality sleep report feeling closer to God and having better faith lives overall.

And also, as Charles Spurgeon said, “God gives us sleep to remind us we are not Him.” We have limits. He doesn’t. We lie down at night trusting in God’s care, open to Him speaking to us, trusting him to revive these earthen vessels of ours in the morning—ready once again to join with God in His work to restore all thing in Jesus.

Now I’m not saying give up your cell phone or Facebook (especially if you read BreakPoint on them). But I am saying don’t let them deprive you of God’s gift of sleep, and in turn all the personal interaction, productivity, creativity, and especially spiritual vitality that make us fully human as God intended.

-from breakpoint.org/2018/01/body-spirit-good-nights-sleep-2/ 

I recommend putting all your e-screens (phone, tablet, laptop) away one hour before bedtime, which works well for me.  If you or your child has ADHD, try going without for a day or two, or putting away your e-screens 3-4 hours before bedtime.

Who is the Most Incredible Christian ever?

"Who, in your estimation wins the all-time, “most incredible Christian in history” prize?

"Call me crazy, but I vote for the guy who holds birdbaths up in people’s gardens—St Francis of Assisi.  I knew zero about St Francis until I went through a spiritual crisis a few years ago. I was burnt out on ministry, disillusioned with church, fed up with evangelical subculture, and tired of not being able to voice my spiritual doubts and questions without being labeled a ‘backslider.’

"At the height of my faith meltdown a friend invited me to visit him at his home in Bermuda to pray about whether to remain in ministry or not. While packing I saw an unread copy of G.K. Chesterton’s St Francis of Assisi on my bookshelf, and without thinking I threw it in my bag.

"Francis began a movement that restored people’s love for the person and message of Jesus.  Over the course of the next week, I devoured it three times. It was a game changer.

"St. Francis helped me realize how narrow my vision of Christianity had been. The more I read about him the more I thought, “If this is what being a Christian in ministry looks like, count me in.” 

More importantly, his life gave me a vision for how we might reverse our culture’s increasing disdain for Christianity, and inspired me to write the book "Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale " to share that vision with others.

"So who was this gadfly saint Time magazine ranked 9th on the list of the most important people of the last millennia, whom Jack Kerouac dubbed the patron saint of the Beat Generation, and historian Sir Kenneth Clark called “Europe’s greatest religious genius?” What made him so extraordinary?

"He rescued the Church from collapsing. That’s not an opinion. It’s a historically recognized fact.  

Scandals wracked the church in the 13th Century. Sexual misbehavior and shamefully lavish lifestyles among clergy were commonplace. 

"Christian leaders made the name of Jesus into a brand that helped move lucrative products (e.g. indulgences, relics, etc.), corrupt involvement in power politics, and encouraging people to kill Muslims to secure their salvation, led people to distrust the church, and by association, the gospel itself.  

"In response, Francis began a movement that restored people’s love for the person and message of Jesus, gave people reason to trust the church again, and brought a revival to Europe, the effects of which lasted more than 500 years.

"How’d he do it? By more nearly mirroring the life of Jesus than anyone since New Testament days.

What would Francis tell us to do if we wanted to overcome the jaded impression our culture has of Christianity and the church? Here are five things:

"1. Extravagant Love for the Poor

Francis and his followers were renowned for radically identifying with the plight of the poor. Their willingness to step into their world silenced critics of the church and the gospel.

When it comes to materialistic lifestyles, Christians and non-Christians are hard to tell apart these days. Why would anyone believe “Jesus is enough” when they see us “mall trawling” like everyone else; hoping some new purchase will fill our spiritual dis-ease?

If we want the contemporary church to flourish, Francis would tell us what he told his fellow friars, “It is faster to get to heaven from a hut than a palace.”  

"2. Peacemaking

Francis recovered the early church’s commitment to non-violence.

He traveled to Egypt hoping to forge a truce between Christian Crusaders and Muslims. Francis made the refusal to bear arms a condition of membership in his Order, a move that dramatically reduced domestic crime in the Europe of his day.

Do we want to restore the credibility of the gospel in a culture that ‘s increasingly cynical toward our message? If so, Francis would tell us to turn our attention back to the early churches ministry of reconciliation, and make peacemaking at home and abroad a priority.

"3. Love for Creation

Francis knew from scripture that all of creation, not just human beings, was waiting, groaning in expectation for the restoration of all things. This is why we hear one wild story after another about his beautiful, personal interactions with animals, how he preached birds, and befriended wolves. Whether these stories are factual or not is immaterial, they reveal an amazing theology of creation.

How might adopting Francis’ understanding of our relationship to the natural world reduce people’s impression that we are apathetic toward climate change, which is arguably the greatest crisis we face at the moment?

"4. Contemplative Spirituality

Okay, here’s where I get in trouble.

One of the contemporary church’s problems is its rejection of Christianity’s contemplative heritage. As vital as a rich intellectual life and the study of theology are to our faith, information alone cannot yield produce transformation. Fortunately, our tradition brims with the wisdom of contemplatives and, dare I say mystics, who wrote about the why’s and how’s of spiritual union with God.  

"Francis, a mystic himself, would advise the present-day church to revisit the practices and teachings of John Cassian, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, Brother Lawrence, Jean Pierre de Caussade, Simone Weil and Evelyn Underhill, among others. People are hungry not only for good biblical teaching but for rich experiential encounters with the living God. Are we ready to lay aside our prejudice against the teachings of our contemplative mothers and fathers?

"5. “Rebuild My Church!”

St Francis of Assisi’s ministry began when he heard Jesus say to him, “Francis, rebuild my church, don’t you see it’s in disrepair?” I would argue Jesus is saying the same today.

We are living in a kairos moment; a time when our culture is facing many of the same challenges St Francis faced in his era. Is it time we stopped thinking about what new, hip gimmick will reverse the momentum of our demise and look back to someone who succeeded in doing it? 

As my friend Bob Webber said before his death, “The road to the future runs through the past.” Maybe it’s time to read a few pages from Francis’ playbook.

By Ian Morgan Cron  May 17, 2013  FoxNews.com   Ian Morgan Cron is the author of the book "Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale ." His spiritual memoir "Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me…A Memoir…of Sorts " was a Wall Street Journal bestseller. He lives with his wife Anne and three kids in Franklin, Tennessee.