Hebrews 4:9-11
"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. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest..."
When I was in high school I was a wrestler and I absolutely adored the sport. I devoted my entire heart and every extra second of my time to getting better at the sport. I wrestled during the regular season, but I also wrestled in the summertime in tournaments all over the place. It was very hard to get me off the mat. Some of the best times I had when I wrestled were at Saturday afternoon tournaments.
These tournaments usually started early in the morning and lasted until the early evening. One of the coolest things about wrestling in tournaments was the feeling you got when you signed the paper saying you won the match. The feeling of knowing you accomplished what you had set out to do by winning the match was absolutely thrilling, but you really have no energy left in your body to even lift the pen so you just scribble something on the paper and walk away.
The hard part about these tournaments was the lack of rest between matches. Like I said your body is completely spent and you don't get much time to rest and regain energy. You have to find some way to rest or you will be useless for your next match, and it can truly mean the difference between winning and losing the next match.
Our spiritual lives aren't much different folks. We spend hours and hours on getting ourselves prepared to do the work of the Lord. We get excited when we have a great conversation where we see a life change or if the friend that we invited to church shows up for the first time. We love God with all of our heart, mind and souls and He in turns instills us with a passion to serve Him.
I think we should truly be thankful for how God uses us, but full obedience to God means that we follow all aspects of His teachings. Finding rest in the midst of His work is not something that God suggests or politely nudges us to seek, but it is truly a mandate from Him. The author of Hebrews says that we should strive for rest, not just hope to get it. We need to make finding a rest a priority amidst our service to God.
If we burn ourselves out living our lives and trying to do the work that God has set forth us than it might mean, just like at a wrestling tournament, the difference between winning and losing. Seek to refuel yourself through rest. Seek time alone with God because I believe that is where we get a chance to hear from him the most. If we keep going at full throttle than we may just miss out on hearing what God is trying to teach us. Slow down, rest and hear God's voice in the midst of your busy life and service to Him. He doesn't tell us to think about resting, He tells us we must.
Thought question: What keeps you from truly resting and finding alone time to refuel your spirit? What can you give up to find the time to rest?
Hey Mike-
ReplyDeleteI found your blog through twitter, where I just started following you. I'm a friend of the Storms and lead worship over at New Song Church.
This post definitely resonates with me. I'm so frequently meeting people who work or volunteer at churches and think the more they do, the more approval they get from God. Thanks for the reminder that rest is important to God- so much so He tells us to do it.