5 Reasons Rest Should Be on Your New Year’s Resolution List

As a new year approaches, most of us start thinking in terms of improvement. New habits. Better routines. Clearer focus. There’s often a quiet hope that this year will feel lighter or more aligned than the last one.

For people serving in the Church, that hope usually carries pressure with it. Lead better. Be more present. Fix what’s broken. Keep things moving forward.

None of those desires are wrong. But here’s the tension we don’t always name: if life is already marked by exhaustion, adding more goals doesn’t bring renewal. It just gives burnout a new calendar.

That pressure isn’t just personal. Many people enter the new year already worn down, carrying fatigue from the year before and wondering why motivation feels harder to access. Research helps put language to that experience. According to Barna Group, 58% of pastors report experiencing burnout or fatigue to the point of needing time away from ministry. While this statistic reflects pastors specifically, it likely points to a broader reality across the Church, especially among those carrying responsibility with little margin for recovery.

Burnout doesn’t mean someone lacks faith or discipline. It usually means the pace has been unsustainable for too long.

“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”
Psalm 127:1 (ESV)

That verse gently but firmly reframes how much responsibility we were ever meant to carry. When everything depends on us, rest feels irresponsible. But when God is recognized as the builder, rest becomes an act of alignment, not avoidance.

1) Rest reshapes what you trust

Many people struggle to rest not because they don’t value it, but because rest exposes fear. If I stop, will things fall apart? If I step back, will I be replaced? If I don’t keep pushing, will I fall behind?

Sabbath doesn’t answer those questions with arguments. It answers them with practice. When you choose rest, you’re training your life to trust that God remains at work even when you are not. Over time, rest becomes less about recovery and more about formation. It reshapes what you actually rely on.

2) Rest restores clarity before decisions are made

Exhaustion distorts perspective. It compresses timelines and magnifies urgency. Everything starts to feel immediate and overwhelming, which makes discernment harder and reactions quicker.

Rest creates the space needed to see clearly again.

“Be still, and know that I am God.”
Psalm 46:10 (ESV)

Stillness isn’t passive. It’s re-centering. It allows the noise to settle so wisdom can surface. When rest becomes part of your rhythm, decisions are no longer made only under pressure. They’re shaped by reflection, prayer, and attentiveness.

3) Rest honors the limits God designed

Burnout doesn’t usually arrive as a dramatic collapse. It builds quietly through late nights, chronic stress, skipped meals, and lives with no margin. Over time, the body and emotions absorb the cost.

Scripture never treats human limits as flaws to overcome. It treats them as part of creation.

“For he gives to his beloved sleep.”
Psalm 127:2 (ESV)

Sleep and rest aren’t rewards for finishing everything. They’re gifts meant to sustain people who live in a finite world. Choosing rest is a way of honoring how God designed the body, rather than constantly pushing past its warnings.

4) Rest forms the capacity to love well

Fatigue doesn’t stay private. It spills outward. Patience wears thin. Empathy becomes harder to access. Presence starts to feel like another demand.

Rest restores emotional bandwidth. It makes room for kindness and steadiness to return.

“Love is patient and kind.”
1 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV)

That kind of love isn’t just a virtue. It’s a capacity. And capacity is deeply affected by whether rest is present or absent. When rest is neglected, even good intentions struggle to translate into healthy relationships.

5) Rest is what makes growth sustainable

Growth is a good desire. Most New Year’s goals are rooted in it. We want to become healthier, wiser, more faithful, more effective. But growth that isn’t supported by rest rarely lasts. It accelerates quickly, then collapses just as fast.

Scripture never celebrates growth at the expense of people. It consistently pairs fruitfulness with rhythms that protect endurance.

“Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Galatians 6:9 (ESV)

That encouragement assumes a life structured in a way that doesn’t wear people down. Rest is what keeps growth from becoming self-destructive. It creates the margin needed for reflection, integration, and recovery. Without it, even good growth becomes unsustainable.

When rest is missing, progress turns frantic. Goals become pressure. Success starts costing more than it gives back. But when rest is built into the rhythm of life, growth slows to a healthier pace. It deepens instead of just expanding. It becomes something you can actually carry.

Rest doesn’t compete with growth. It protects it. If the goal of the new year is lasting change rather than quick wins, rest can’t be optional. It’s the condition that allows growth to continue without burning everything else to the ground.