Difficult to wind down after a mad Christmas? Ten Bible verses to help you relax on Boxing Day

It is important that amid the busyness of the Christmas season, we find time to rest. And what better day than Boxing Day?

Rest sounds like a luxury option, but sometimes it can be harder than you hoped to really wind down. Whether your home has been overflowing with relatives for weeks, or you have had to be working right up until Christmas, or both, it can be hard to truly rest. After the build up to Christmas, let Boxing Day be your Sabbath, and follow after God's example and rest.

Here are ten Bible verses encouraging rest:

Exodus 20:8-10 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates..."

Hebrews 4:4; 9-10 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works." ... So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Exodus 33:14 "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

Matthew 11:28-29 "...Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Jeremiah 6:16 Thus says the LORD: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'

Psalm 62:5 "Yes, my soul, find rest in God: my hope comes from him."

Mark 6:31 "Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

Philippians 4:12 "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."

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