Is Bed Rotting a Good Idea?

The ABCs of an alternative approach to spiritual health.

Each year, dictionary.com releases a list of new words that will become a part of the lexicon. Last year, more than 1,500 words or expressions were added, the most notable of which were arguably Barbiecore, pretty privilege, slow fashion, greedflation and food insecure.

But perhaps most interesting — and relevant as we stand poised on the cusp of a new year, reading the opening salvo of Paul’s letter to Ephesian Christians — is another new expression: bed rotting.

Bed rotting is a reference to the practice of laying abed all day, but not because one is ailing. Rather, bed rotting is the practice of snacking, watching TV or surfing the internet while staying abed — sometimes for two or three days. Practitioners of the craft defend it as a voluntary retreat from activity or stress. It is, they say, a form of self-care that allows them to rest, recover and rejuvenate after experiencing burnout, chronic tension or job-related trauma.

So, when facing stress, why not seek the comfort of one’s bed? Why not flee to that one place you’ve come to love as a personal sanctuary, a place that provides security and comfort? Your bed is a happy place where you can disconnect from external stressors and spend joyous and indulgent hours reading, watching movies, thumbing through Facebook or TikTok reels, or texting friends. It’s self care — mental health time.

Yet, medical people warn us of the dangers of being too sedentary, which can lead to obesity, cardiovascular disease and muscle atrophy. Extended time in bed can also lead to poor posture and back problems. There are mental health risks as well. Bed rotting can lead to social isolation and loneliness as it reduces opportunities for social interaction and engagement with the outside world. Four days of sack time can initially provide comfort, but it may exacerbate feelings of depression, anxiety, stagnation and hopelessness. There is also the issue of productivity and daily functioning. Spending excessive time in bed can disrupt daily routines, including sleep patterns, meal schedules and personal hygiene. Not good!

As we stand, sit or lay abed on the cusp of a new year, is this how we want to tackle the challenges that await us in 2025? In about two weeks, the world will watch the inauguration of the president of the United States. Always a spectacle, half of the voters will be euphoric, and the other half would sooner slide naked down a razor blade into a pool of rubbing alcohol than to support the other ticket.

Perhaps, we say without apology, “Let me rot in bed for a few weeks and then I will be ready to go!”

It’s a plausible argument. But the Bible, the apostle Paul and a number of modern health care professionals have some cautionary advice for us.

Maybe there’s a better way to start 2025 and manage the stress of daily life. Let’s see what Paul says in the opening words of his letter to the Ephesian Christians. They are a beautiful doxology — a hymn of praise — that celebrates the spiritual blessings we have in Christ. As we dive into these verses, we’ll re-discover the profound truths of our spiritual inheritance and the incredible grace God has lavished upon us — knowledge that will certainly help us avoid the angst of uncertainty and fear as we start a new year. Although this text offers a veritable menu of blessings to discuss, let’s focus on what we will call the ABCs of an anti-bed rotting regime.

 

A = Adopted

A critical piece about adoption is the issue of relationship. Adoption requires beginning a new relationship. The adoptee was once in a family relationship with this person, but now she is in a family relationship with someone else. From the moment of the adoption, a child placed in the arms of an adoptive parent is in a new relationship, with fresh and completely revised prospects — for good or for ill — for a different future, a different family, a different nurturing style, an alternative opportunity for education and enrichment, and so on.

Here’s what the Bible says: “He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ” (v. 5). Let’s unpack this. Paul says that our adoption into the family of God was part of a divine plan. “He destined us,” the apostle writes. Now, we may not understand what that means, but at the very least, we can be assured that the fact that we’re occupying space on this planet is not an accident. We’re here for a reason. Our adoption into God’s family is not an afterthought or a backup plan; it was God’s intention and desire all along. Before the foundation of the world, we were always to be included as one of God’s children.

How is this possible? It’s possible “through Jesus Christ.” This phrase is crucial because it highlights how our adoption is realized. Again, we may not understand the how, but we can claim the truth of it. Jesus’ sacrificial love on the cross paved the way for our reconciliation with God, breaking down the barriers of sin and separation. Our faith in Christ is one way of claiming the blessing of our adopted status as a child of God.

But why would God do this? Why would God want to bring us into the family?

Good question. Paul says that our adoption is “according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (vv. 5-6). This underscores the fact that God’s decision to adopt us was not made out of obligation or necessity, but out of God’s sheer delight and sovereign choice. God takes pleasure in calling us his children just like we take pleasure in introducing our children to friends. Think of the fellow who has just become a dad for the first time. He whips out his smartphone, and you know what’s going to happen: he’s going to start scrolling through hundreds of baby photos!

Yes, we bring joy to God. We are a child upon whom, like an earthly parent, love and largesse can be bestowed. How fun! How cool is it to know that we are cherished and valued by God, whom the Bible often describes as a heavenly parent.

There’s more, of course, to our status as adopted children of God. We are living and walking advertisements “to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (v. 6). You see the child; you admire and respect the parent. At least one can hope. Our lives, transformed by God’s grace, should be lived in a way that brings glory and honor to God.

So, there’s no need for bed rotting for children of God. Everything is possible! But let’s look at something else.

 

B = Blessed

Let’s be clear about what these blessings are and are not.

Paul is not talking about material things. This is not about the new EV car charging in the garage. It’s not about boats, RVs, computers, six-figure salaries, Super Bowl tickets, Alaskan cruises, European vacations, or a time share on Maui — nothing like that.

We may feel blessed for any or all these things, and it is appropriate to be grateful for them.

But one problem with material blessings is that you can never be sure if they’re blessings or not. This is illustrated, for example, by the classic vaudeville routine known as “That’s good. No, that’s bad” by the late Archie Campbell, a country comedian who performed on “Hee Haw” and other comedy-variety television programs of the 1960s and 1970s (see Animating Illustrations).

But God has not promised these material things to us. The blessings about which the Bible talks are intangible — like the love we have for our spouses and children, or the hope to which we cling, or the joy that we feel. It is like the lesson we learned in high school English about the difference between countable and uncountable nouns. Dog, cat, mother, car, table and apple are examples of countable nouns — things that are subject to loss or decay. Law, love, anger, excitement, fear (and perhaps coffee), are examples of uncountable nouns — concepts that are eternal and intangible.

It’s not a perfect example, although many would consider coffee to be a spiritual blessing. But “spiritual” is the nature of the blessings to which the apostle is alluding in this text. Paul’s actual words are: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (v. 3). So, what does this mean?

The phrase refers to the spiritual dimension where God’s presence is known and experienced. It contrasts with the earthly world, which is anchored to all things temporal and material. To be blessed “in heavenly places” means to receive the ongoing assurance of God’s presence, providence and favor.

This favor is unlimited. We are blessed “with every spiritual blessing.” There are no options. We don’t have to choose between the normal, supreme, deluxe or super-deluxe plans, or the silver, gold or platinum card. We get it all! Completeness and sufficiency, salvation, forgiveness, reconciliation, eternal life, relationship as children of God, the presence of the Holy Spirit including the gifts of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness and self-control), and union with Christ.

These blessings are made possible through our union with Jesus Christ. For Paul, union with Christ is big. Notice that he uses the expressions “In Christ” or “in him” eight times in these 11 verses alone — his preamble to the entire letter. To be “in Christ” and to recognize that the blessings we enjoy are because of Christ is the main idea. It’s a theme he reiterates in virtually all his letters to the early church.

He stresses this because he firmly believes that the gospel is better served not by those who are rotting in bed, but by those who recognize who they are, who Jesus Christ is and who God is, and who rise to be agents of change upon the earth. After all, we are adopted children of God, and we are additionally blessed with all the spiritual blessings of the universe. What more do we want?

 

C = Chosen

What more do we want? Perhaps we want to be reminded that we’re special.

There’s considerable pushback in our culture against the popular mantra — directed especially toward children — that we’re special. No, we’re not, say some pundits. In life, not everyone is going to get a blue ribbon for perfect attendance or simply showing up. Not everyone gets a medal. The point is taken and not without merit.

But to be reminded that God has chosen us is not the same thing as getting a happy-face sticker for turning in our homework. The Bible makes it clear that we are not just random collections of atoms, having just a chromosome or two advantage over a chimpanzee, made of a body that is 60 percent water, with a heart that will beat more than three billion times in an average lifespan. No, we’re more than that. We were chosen. Each of us. God “chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love” (v. 4).

This means that God, exercising divine sovereignty, chose us, not because of any merit on our part or because we deserved to be chosen, but solely because of God’s mercy and grace.

The choice took place before time began. We have always been a part of a divine scheme of things. We have always been a factor in God’s will and purpose for the work, and in God’s sovereignty over creation and history. We’ve been “holified,” to coin a phrase. It means we’ve been “set apart” or made holy to align our conduct with God’s nature and will.

What’s cool about this is that we are in partnership with God. “Before him,” says the text. “If God takes you to it; God will get you through it.” Yes, it is a tired internet meme, but it comes close to the meaning of Scripture, Romans 8:28-29, for example, a text that echoes many of the themes of today’s reading.

Adopted. Blessed. Chosen. There we have it. The ABCs of an alternative to bed rotting or any other concerns we may have as we enter a new year, a quarter of the way into the 21^st century. We need not fear that having made our bed, we shall be required to lie it in. Instead, we might obey Jesus, as did the man in the Bible who had been bed rotting for 38 years. When the Lord said, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk,” he took up his bed and walked (John 5:8, KJV).

Good advice for us all.

Amen.

—Timothy Merrill and Carl Wilton contributed to this material.

 

Sources

Hui, Alyssa. “What Is ‘Bed Rotting’? Gen Z’s Newest Self-Care Trend, Explained.” health.com, May 20, 2024. Retrieved June 15, 2024.

Johnson, Stephen. “The Out-of-Touch Adults’ Guide to Kid Culture: What Is ‘Bed Rotting’?” lifehacker.com, June 2, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2024.

Shah, Simmone. “‘Bed Rotting,’ ‘Girl Dinner,’ and Dictionary.com’s New 2024 Words.” TIME.com, February 13, 2024. Retrieved June 15, 2024.

The Other Texts

What Is One Possible Approach to the Text?

And Now for the Good News. This text reads like the second half of a terrible joke. “What do you want? The good news or the bad news?” Jeremiah has already delivered the bad news. In this text, however, Jeremiah springs the good news. And it is good news indeed! It’s totally amazing! Almost unbelievable. So, as a pastor/preacher, you are thinking of the people in the congregation who have weathered through some bad news, difficult years and hard times. They need good news. The good news is that there’s always hope. We may need to work with the Lord a little bit to make the good times roll again, but there’s always hope. That’s one emphasis to pound home for a while. The second suggestion is to encourage people to be the hope and good news that other people need right now in their lives. People need hope. They need love. They need good news. Why don’t we give it to them? There is no greater gift that we can give a person than the gift of hope.

What Does the Text Say?

Jeremiah was prophet to a nation on the edge of a cataclysmic change, a nation that stood on the brink of an abyss, and at the bottom lay the end of their history as an independent nation. All they could do was stand on the walls of Jerusalem and look to the horizon for the conquering armies that stood poised to sweep them off their land and into exile. Our text is the one bright spot in an otherwise depressing book. Jeremiah 30:1−31:40 is called the “Book of Consolations” because within these chapters, the prophet holds out the eternal hope that no matter how bad things get for Israel and Judah, God will still keep the covenant. God will turn back to the people with compassion, and the people can and will be restored to God’s good graces. The passage speaks of restoration — salvation brought by the Lord, the return of exiles from the farthest corner of the Earth, even the most fragile and helpless of society sheltered and protected — all at the hands of a loving and forgiving God. Everyone shall be forgiven and brought home again. Verses 10-14 speak of a total restoration of the people. Their reputation among the nations will be restored, and God will be their “shepherd” once again (v. 10).

What Is One Possible Approach to the Text?

Singing Your Praises. Kids have cute ways of saying, “I love you.” But how do parents tell their children that they are loved? Parents, too, have creative ways to say, “I love you.” Katie McLaughlin’s website, pickanytwo.net, is a forum for discussing parenting ideas. In one post, she offers 36 ways to say “I love you” to children. Some of these expressions simply sing the praises of the child, offering support and love. The psalmist does something similar in this passage. Think of it as a blog post in which the writer offers ideas about how to let God know that we’re aware of the awesomeness of God. Note that there is very little in the text that is personal. The psalmist is not extolling the greatness of God because of anything that God has done for him personally. The psalmist stands apart from his life, as though he’s positioned on an observation deck atop a mountain. He has stopped at the “scenic turnout” to look at the view. It has nothing to do with him and everything to do with the One who created the view.

What Does the Text Say?

The English liturgical exclamation, “Hallelujah!” is derived from the opening and closing words of the last five psalms in the OT — hallelu-yah — translated by NRSV as “Praise the Lord!” The Hebrew phrase is a plural imperative of the verbal root h-l-l, which means “to praise,” plus Yah, a poetic shortened form of Yahweh. This collection of psalms, sometimes called Hallels by biblical scholars, closes ancient Israel’s theologically and emotionally variegated hymnbook on a sustained note of praise. Today’s psalm, Psalm 147, is part of this collection. The psalm can be divided nicely into three sections (vv. 1-6, 7-11, 12-20), each of which begins with an exhortation to praise the Lord and is followed by reasons to do so. “Extol the Lord, O Jerusalem,” (v. 12, NIV). Why? “For he strengthens the bars of your gates …” (v. 13, NIV). The psalm concludes with a reference to the special privileges of Israel, the people who have received God’s word in the form of “statutes and ordinances.”

What Is One Possible Approach to the Text?

John the Evangelist Explains What Happened on Christmas Day. Of the four gospel writers, Matthew and especially Luke offer the most detailed accounts of the birth of the Christ child. These accounts have given us what we called “the Christmas story,” which itself is full of cultural mythologies (including the date for Jesus’ birth) and cultural observances. Mark ignores the birth of Jesus completely. It is John who tells us what really happened — the back story. And so, on the second Sunday after Christmas, and just before Epiphany, the preacher has an opportunity to explain. “Okay, the tree is probably down by now. If not, it will surely come down next weekend. The presents have been unwrapped, returned or set aside for re-gifting next year. Let’s talk about what really was going on December 25. What happened was that God — the ineffable, transcendent deity — robed himself in human flesh and materialized before our very eyes. God entered the human dimension. Oddly, he was rejected by the very cultural and ethnic tribe through which he chose to reveal himself. How, then, will we respond to the good news that we are the children of God?”

What Does the Text Say?

Verses 10-18 form the second half of the prologue for the gospel of John and highlight two key realities. First, the One who was the Word and created the world didn’t remain distant from his creation. On the contrary, “He was in the world” so people could become “children of God.” Even though “the world came into being through him,” inexplicably, “the world did not know him” (v. 10). This paradox concerning the world’s ignorance is further magnified given that “he came to what was his own [eiV ta idia hlqen], and his own people did not accept him [oi idioi auton ou parelabon]” (v. 11). After describing the relationship between the Word and the world in verses 10-13, the final portion of John’s prologue considers a second decisive reality. The narrative recounts specifically how the Word was present in the world: “And the Word became flesh [sarx] and lived among us [eskhnwsen en hmin; more literally, ‘pitched his tent with us’].” Not only that, John also passes on the collective testimony of the community when he states, “And we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (v. 14). Having examined the relationship between the Word and the world and enumerated three attributes of Jesus Christ — glory, grace and truth — John closes the prologue with a most profound and magisterial assertion, “No one has ever seen God” (not even Moses, as great as he was). But Jesus Christ, who “is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart [o wn eiV ton klopon tou patroV] … has made him known” (v. 18).

Worship Resources

Leader: God is unfolding a new moment, an hour of blessing, a time of healing, a day of beauty. It is the gift offered to you, filled with ordinary moments made holy by attention to:

• the movements of Grace,
• the tremors of Love,
• the ripples of Hope,
• the whispers of Peace.

This time is for you.

Leap for joy,
Work for the common good,
Stand fast in hope,
Embrace each sign of God’s new reign, and
Live under the blessing of God’s care.

Voice 1: Our God is blessed and is a blessing to all peoples!
Voice 2: God lavishes spiritual blessings upon us.
Voice 1: What are these spiritual blessings?
Voice 2: The Lord chose us for his own even before the world came into being.
Voice 1: Through Jesus Christ, we are adopted into God’s family.
Voice 2: Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we are redeemed and forgiven people!
Voice 1: God’s grace sets us free to live abundant, whole lives.
Voice 2: God even opens to us the mysteries of his will.
Voice 1: We are heirs of Christ and will receive an inheritance with him.
Voice 2: We are part of God’s eternal plan and purposes.
Voice 1: Our hope is in the saving work and person of Christ.
Voice 2: The Holy Spirit is the seal of our salvation.
Voice 1: Glory to God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Voice 2: Our God is blessed and is a blessing to all peoples!

—Based on Ephesians 1:3-14

Hymns
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Our Parent, by Whose Name
Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing

Worship and Praise*
Come Thou Fount, Come Thou King (Robinson, Miller)
Hymn of the Holy Spirit (Tomlin, Cash, Bashta, Smith, Barrett)
Who You Say I Am (Fielding, Morgan)

*For licensing and permission to reprint or display these songs on screen, go to ccli.com. The worship and praise songs suggested by Homiletics can be found in most cases on Google by using the title as the search term.

COMMENTARY

on Ephesians 1:3-14