The Invitation To Rest

Surrendered Business

One day a retired businessman wanted to encourage fellow entrepreneurs who were doing the hard and thankless work of building their businesses. He thought it would be a good idea to invite them out to his beautiful ranch house in the mountains for a few days of feasting, fly fishing, and rest.

With the catering, fishing guides, and entertainment all arranged he sent out the invitations.

The initial responses to his invitation surprised him. The first invitee politely declined saying, “I’d love to come, but I’ve just taken on a huge new client and can’t get out of the office.”

The second invitee responded saying, “Man, that sounds fantastic but with the challenges in our local economy, I just can’t get away from the business right now.”

The third invitee also declined: “I’d love to come but I just got married. Keep me in mind for next time.”

You can imagine the frustration of this generous man having his invitations declined by the people he most wanted to bless.

Fortunately, several entrepreneurs said, “Yes.” They ended up having what they would later describe as one of the most transformational experiences of their lives.

By now, this story is probably sounding familiar. Jesus told a somewhat similar parable with the story of the great banquet. In this story, the generous host sent out invitations to an incredible feast.

Interestingly, the first two people that said no to the invitation in Jesus' story seemed to be busy business people. One had bought some land and had to go see it. (As if he didn’t look at it before he bought it?) The other had bought some livestock and needed to go tend to them.

Why is it that so many entrepreneurs and leaders decline the invitation to rest?

Running a business is hard. Only those who have put themselves out there with the risk of an entrepreneur or pressures of leadership know the true price to be paid. We need rest.

On top of the intense challenges of running business, the temptation is for the business to become our identity, a kind of addiction, and even our idol. The business and our drive to keep it rolling can end up consuming us, taking all of our attention and focus while draining us of energy.

It becomes easy to seek validation from our identity as a pioneering entrepreneur or top executive. When that happens, it becomes nearly impossible to let go.

How do we know we’ve crossed the threshold into the business becoming our identity? How might we recognize the slip toward addiction and idolatry? Perhaps we can recognize this has happened by our response to an invitation from God to rest.

When the invitation to the banquet comes, are you able to say, “Yes” or do you feel compelled to stay behind and tend to the business?”

Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) There is rest available. You just need to say yes.

Entering that rest requires some humility. In essence, saying yes to rest is like saying, “I recognize that this business is not all about me.” Saying yes to the banquet also affirms that our success is not all about us.

It reminds us that there is a place we can go when the pressure turns up. The invitation to rest is always available. There is a place where we can get away, turn off the stream of messages, and enter into joy.

When the invitation comes, what will you say? Maybe it’s to a banquet. Maybe the invitation is to a sabbatical or vacation. Maybe the invitation is simply to a quiet cup of coffee with Jesus early in the morning.

I’ve heard many preachers say, “When God asks you to do something, will you give Him your ‘Yes?’” Usually they are referring to a big risk to which most of us with an entrepreneurial spirit would say, “You bet!” But what about when God invites you to a banquet? Will you give him your “Yes” at that moment as well?

Today’s episode is brought to you by Revenue Growth Engine. To scale your impact you need to scale your business. To do this, you need a powerful Revenue Growth Engine. Listeners to Surrendered Business can get a free copy of the Revenue Growth Engine audiobook at www.revenuegrowthengine.com/book.