November 22 - Rest

This week is Reading Week at school.  That means that though there are no classes, professors are free to assign things to us to read.  There just aren't any assignments due.  Fortunately for me, only one professor assigned reading work.  But, that doesn't mean that I'm setting aside my work.


This week gives me a chance to dig into the Greek. I don't have to quickly learn anything this week, I can concentrate on settling into the stuff that has been going past me so fast I can hardly stand it!  I'm hoping that will help as I prepare for the Final exam.


I also have plans to get some of the work that will be due next week started and maybe even finished so that as I move through the last three weeks of classes, I have time to complete my Final papers early.  


Yesterday I wrote out all of the items I needed to complete this week, put together a schedule (with checkmarks) so that I wouldn't allow myself to slack off.  I would hate to come to the end of this week and not have things finished.


I was smart enough to schedule nothing for Thursday and very little for Friday and Saturday.  I began to feel as if I weren't getting a holiday at all because I was so worried about accomplishing so much.  I needed a sense of the Sabbath ... rest.  


One of the books I was reading yesterday for a class talked about retirement and how that is not found anywhere in scripture.  God intends for us to work.  He intends for us to work six days a week.  There really is no stopping point.  And before you get all up in a huff ... most of you do, whether it is for a boss or for your family.  I know that most of you work until you collapse.  On Saturdays and Sundays you find yourselves working for your house, your laundry, your lawns, your cars, your kids, your classes ... God wanted us to work for six days - and then cease working so that we could focus on Him and on the rest we so badly need. 

July 7 - Hebrews 4:1-11 - Enter His Rest

I've spent enough time around philosophy-lovers that my brain starts reeling sometimes as I listen to them bat ideas back and forth. When I read these verses, that happens to me again.

The author of Hebrews wants us to completely understand that resting in God is so much more than what our bodies need to restore us to face another day.

When God rested on the seventh day, the Sabbath, it was after he had fully and perfectly completed His Creation.

As we come to know God's rest, we not only rest from our work, but we are putting our faith completely and totally in Him. This is about faith. Faith in the Creative power of God, faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Lack of faith kept the Israelites from God's rest. Lack of faith can keep Christians from God's rest. The only barrier to resting in God is if we back away in disbelief ... if we harden our hearts.

Entering into God's rest comes from not only hearing the Gospel, but believing it as well. It brings forgiveness of sins and peace to our hearts.

Ever since I have been an adult, I seemed to search for peace. I knew that it would be found in God, but it seemed as if the world constantly battered me until I was exhausted. We are all exhausted. But, this is because we try so hard to do this all alone. Sabbath rest is not about a decision that we make to cease working one day a week, it is about being obedient to God's call and deliberately setting ourselves aside so that we can enter His rest.