Culture #1 - Lying Flat for Jesus

I recently encountered a Chinese social media proverb which says, “working involves standing up and resting involves lying down.” This is the core sentiment of Tang ping, which translates as “lying flat.” It is an online quasi-spiritual resistance movement started by millennials in China to protest the expectation to work the exhausting ‘996 life’: 9am to 9pm, six days a week. Participation in Tang ping involves posting photographs of yourself lying on your back. Similar to the western 1960s counter-culture which dropped out from the mainstream to pursue a life of peace and freedom, this movement attempts to free individuals from the capitalist machinery in order to pursue a more sustainable and peaceful life.

Since the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, a similar trend towards cultivating a sustainable life has emerged in the West. For some, trauma, stress, and burnout have left people psychologically bruised and needing relief. Others, while bored with the monotony, have embraced the slower-paced lifestyle. 

Church leadership consultant Carey Nieuwhof believes that moving forward “a sustainable pace (for everyone) will become non-negotiable.” I hope he’s right. One of the rules of life and ministry which I follow is that I aim to work at 80 percent capacity. In my experience many middle class Australians function at an unsustainable 120 percent. I need to be emotionally available for my friends and family; I want time to be creative and do the things that give me joy.  

Leaving aside the physical and emotional cost of a hectic life, functioning in overdrive could be a sign that we are worshiping the idol of work: trying to justify our worth through exertion. This is the tyranny of continuous productivity. Ever since the industrial revolution, with its factories and artificial lighting, work has colonised every minute of the day; clocking off is a luxury of the past. We are like chickens in a battery farm, where the light that keeps us awake is the glow of our smartphones in bed as we check our emails.

Existing like this accompanies an unhealthy self-talk: “When I work at a frenetic pace I feel good inside” and “when I slow down I feel guilty.” The stress hormone is cortisol, but you might also be getting an adrenaline rush: too much of either is bad for you. If we live like a ball-bearing in the pinball machine of life, bouncing from appointment to appointment, very soon it will be game over.

Of course, hard work is important; when we don’t have enough to challenge us we become sluggard and our sense of purpose atrophies. Hebrew wisdom teaches that “Laziness leads to a sagging roof; idleness leads to a leaky house” (Ecclesiastes 10:18). We need a sustainable pace, neither frenetic nor languid, times of lying flat, but not all the time. 

If you’ve had this epiphany, let me congratulate you: welcome to the club of 80 percent capacity! Let your lifestyle Bible text be Mark 6:31-32 where Jesus, the Good Shepherd, took his hungry and exhausted disciples to sit down by still waters to eat and rest (Psalm 23). He is the Lord of the Sabbath, who invites us to find rest with him and in him.

For the follower of Jesus, however, we must be careful that we don’t exchange the idol of work for the idol of leisure. Let’s remember that Jesus and the disciples rested so that they could teach and heal the people. Jesus didn’t need to prove his worth through burning out, he knew that regular times of quietness enabled him to serve more people rather than less.

A life of worship requires not conforming to worldly patterns such as workaholism or leisurism (Romans 12:1-2). So if our new lifestyle is predominantly self-indulgent “me time” then we still have a problem. If helping our brothers and sisters in need, loving our neighbours, devotional times, or regularly meeting with the church community have become a low priority, then we haven’t learned a good lesson from COVID at all. We have just exchanged one worldly lifestyle choice for another – one idol for another. 

Ask yourself, “am I regularly saying no to ministry and worship so I can protect my sustainable pace?” If the answer is yes, please reconsider your choices. Sure, have healthy boundaries, but the 80 percent capacity life can’t involve completely sacrificing our discipleship. The solution to faith burnout is not a faith holiday. As Jesus said, “no branch can bear fruit by itself” (John 15:4). It is only through remaining in Jesus’ love that we experience true freedom, transcendence and joy.

Try lying flat in the biblical way – facedown – the ultimate act of full bodied prostrate worship. When God appeared to the 99-year-old Abraham, he fell facedown in honour and worship; Moses and Aaron fell facedown at the entrance of the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord appeared to them; the Magi lay facedown before the Christ-child; Peter, James and John worshipped facedown at the Transfiguration; Jesus prayed facedown in his greatest time of stress in the Garden of Gethsemane; and even in the throne room of heaven, the angels humble themselves facedown praising God. Lying facedown was their way of being reverent before God, demonstrating fear and awe, and giving thanks.    

It’s good to lie flat on your back, but better to lie flat on your front. This posture will serve you well, now and into eternity.

This article was originally published in Soul Tread Magazine.