Holy all the time?

 

Our church is focusing on what it means to keep the Sabbath. The emphasis is restoration from the stresses of life by making one day in seven special. The Bible terms it “holy” which means ‘consecrated to God’ plus synonyms such as blessed, chaste, dedicated, devoted, devout, faultless, glorified, god-fearing, godlike, godly, humble, immaculate, just, messianic, pietistic, pious, prayerful, pure, reverent, righeous, sacrosanct, sainted, saintlike, saintly, sanctified, seraphic, spotless, uncorrupt, undefiled, untainted, unworldly, venerable. An online thesaurus lists 353 synonyms and antonyms for this word.

What comes out just from these words is that the Sabbath is not a list of do’s and don’ts like no fun games, have a nap, no shopping, etc. but an attitude and focus that is not like any of the activities that cause me stress, fatigue, or to forget God, or live as if I can handle life without Him. It seems that Sabbath is more about an attitude and focus, one that the goal is to be at rest in Christ all the time, not just one day. I’m to always be talking with Him and doing what He says.

Not only that, Jesus is the model. He healed people on the Sabbath. Some might call that ‘work’ but helping a beast that has fallen into a ditch is not work either. Jesus said:

Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.(Matthew 12:11–12)

Jesus also said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27) We live in a day when stress is killing us. God intended that we take time from whatever is wearing us out and rest. . . .

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

The first burden is a heavy crate; the light “burden” is a word about the invoice on the crate. This illustrates what that load of trying to do life in my own strength is not God's idea. Eventually, it fails. I’m a capable person, but not God. Life teaches that without His grace, my mind runs out of focus and ideas, my emotions rob my energy, and my choices add to the pile. I need the mind of Christ, the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit, and the ‘invoice’ of God to give me direction so I don’t fall into the same pit. His grace grants all that and more.
The problem comes when I foolishly revert back to those habits of doing life without God.

Eventually those activities are “labor and heavy laden” and I need to return to resting in Christ. This is not about restraining from work, but about pursuing meaningful, soul-renewing rest—a shift in my habits toward something good, not just away from something bad.

Sabbath and rest does give me an opportunity to relax my physical body, but it is also about keeping that day holy. One author calls it “repopulate the time” or replacing it with worship and giving attention to more than simple inactivity. When I am not doing my work, I have to remember His work.

For some, the emphasis falls on rules or the do’s and don’ts taught in previous years, but these put us in slavery by taking over our mind-set. God wants His rest to be a gift to our souls not a mere change of pace or stoppage of all that stresses us.

PRAY: Jesus, this is talked about in terms of one day in seven, yet I’m thinking it is also a life-style, a way of thinking and a transformation into being more like You. You did good all the time, yet often went alone to pray to the Father. Sometimes You shed tears. Sometimes You served needs. Sometimes You sweat blood, but always Your focus and strength depended on Your yielded attitude and Your delight in serving whenever You saw the need. You are what it means to be holy.

Ruckus or a Rest?

 

Every now and then things happen that require either acceptance or a fight. Because God is sovereign and controls all things, and uses them for my good, I can rest no matter what those things might be.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

This teaching was one of the first things God put into my heart and mind. It works well with my mother’s mantra. She often said, “We must need it or we wouldn’t be getting it.” While she said it most often about the weather, this trust in God for every circumstance held even when she suffered from Alzheimers and faced all sorts of changes and challenges. She had this amazing attitude of acceptance rather than fighting life, and that attitude fits well with being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

I’ve said I want to be like my mom when I grow up. Now, into my later years, I’m still learning. One area is with new situations, or with many decisions to be made. Our recent decision to move into another place that is more suited to our needs is giving me reasons to repeat mom’s mantra.

Jesus gave an invitation that also fits with this idea and reason for accepting life as it comes. He said:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

I’ve learned that this passage uses two words about burdens. The first is the heavy load of a shipment that requires muscle or equipment to move it. However, the “burden” that Jesus said He would give us is merely the paper invoice that is attached to the shipment! In other words, His yoke is nothing compared to the weight that most people try to carry. He does not want me to take on the heavy loads, only those that are in His will for me.

The Bible also talks about rest. It is typified in Sabbath rest, one day in seven to stop working and take it easy, but it points to the same type of rest that Jesus talked about, the rest of not laboring with the full load but trusting Him and coming to Him for only what He wants for me. This is also implied in the words, “I must need it…” for what He gives is needful that I might be like Him. What I might take on in my own strength does not do that for me. Instead, it makes me tired, worn out, grumpy, and hard to get along with.
In other words, my load is the work of the flesh, and taking His load is walking in the Spirit. One is a fight and also a disobedience. The other is acceptance, trust, and full obedience.

Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 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, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:6–13)

PRAY: Jesus, I am so aware of the difference between being heavy laden and taking on the yoke with You that You give. I cannot manage daily life, never mind moving to another home, without Your grace and strength. All that I try on my own makes me irritable and anxious. Trusting You fills me with peace and joy. Thank You for my mother — and thank you for being who You are, the giver of good things that I might become more like You.

Worship

Sometimes the words from the Word are enough…

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.
Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!
You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.
In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.
I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!
For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.
Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me!
Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt!
Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”
But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!”
As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God! (Psalm 40:1–17)

…enough because Jesus is enough. Always.

PRAY: Today my heart is filled with the wonder of God, not because of any special event, or even a good night’s sleep — or even the delightful dream in which I signed up for piano lessons. Jesus, I love You, just because. You are the Lion and the Lamb, my shelter in the time of storm, my joy in a weary land. Today You give me great rest in You, my great Savior and God. Thank You.


 

Stop stewing . . .

A crock pot is a handy appliance. When I make a stew in a regular pot, I have to stir it often or it will burn on the bottom. That means my mind has to be on that stew all the time. But when the stew is in the crock pot, I don’t have to stir it, or lift the lid. I can just forget about it with no worries. At the end of the day, it is ready to eat.

My life with Christ is supposed to be like that. I don’t need to stir the stew, just entrust it to the Lord. He is taking care of everything and I can go about the day without worries.

Another analogy is living like a child who trusts his parents and is happily enjoying life. She makes her requests and leaves the answers to her father who loves her. She is not anxious about anything.

These analogies are great, but do they work? Yes, they do. I’ve an issue that at one time used to plague my thoughts first thing in the morning and most of the day. It was something I could not fix or do anything about. I didn’t want to think about it, or even pray about it because that would still keep it in my head.

Finally, I asked God to take it out of my mind. Sometimes it still pops up when I wake, but at the end of the day I am overjoyed because it was gone the whole day. This is what it means to rest in Jesus and this is His invitation to do just that:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

That rest is as Chambers describes — a heart full of peace that is not stressed at all, particularly with self-consciousness. That means to not be bothered with thinking about who I am, what I am doing, how I am performing, or anything that “by slow degrees will awaken self-pity.”

Self-pity is from the devil and is a sure way to take my focus off Jesus. This kind of thinking runs something like this: ‘Well, I am not understood; this is a thing they ought to apologize for; that is a point I really must have cleared up’ and has many other variations.  

Instead, I am to come to Jesus and leave all of my concerns with Him, being conscious only of Him, His power and presence with me and His ability to take care of any problems that plague my mind and heart.

This resting in Jesus means that I am not always asking about the will of God because I am already in it. Resting in Him is an attitude, a deep assurance that He is hearing and answering my prayers. I can go about my day with a calm spirit, not fretting, not stirring the stew, yet with a slight excitement that my prayers are being answered. It is like the stew in the crock pot — I can smell it cooking!

By myself, I cannot overcome nagging thoughts. My efforts remind me of the teacher who told her class not to think about apples or not to think about recess. If nothing else is given to occupy their minds, they cannot help but dwell on the apples or on recess.

My something else thought is Jesus. He says, “Come to me . . . learn of me . . . focus on my light burden” and in doing that, my mind is given the sweet rest of His peace, the “perfection of activity that is never conscious of itself.”

Walking on a sea of fire

Looking back, I can see how the events of the past are built into the fiber of the present. God has directed all that happened to me for His purposes, including the unpleasant trials, and even my own errors and foolish choices. While I cannot blame Him for my disobedience and mistakes, He has graciously used all things for my good.

Today’s devotional points to the way God mixes past events with grace to give energy to His peace and rest. That is, resting in Christ has nothing to do with being a couch potato!

The image in this passage is a sea of glass, calm and serene, but mingled with fire. In the Bible, fire is often a symbol of judgment, but also of refining, and even zeal for God. In this verse, the devotional author sees rest mingled with that fiery zeal.

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. (Revelation 15:1–2)

He points to Peter, a forgiven follower who preached the first sermon, was involved in the conversion of the first Gentiles, and became a champion of faith. Yet he is the same man who denied his Master and struggled with his denial as Jesus was crucified. His past no doubt had an effect on his fire for God.

He also considers Paul who was taken to the third heaven and sees awesome things, but never ceases to be the one who stood by at Stephen’s stoning. His past mingled with the peace of God became the fire in his ministry.

Each of us who have turned homeward to our Father carry with us memories of what it was like to be empty, hungry and eating pig food. As God’s saved children, we cannot (and dare not) forget that we were once lost. This can be seen in this graphic picture of a “sea of glass mixed with fire.” It suggests rest pervaded with activity, contemplation stirred by zealous service in the kingdom of God.

Some think heaven will mean idleness after our earthly battles with sin, yet this cannot be true any more than life here becomes idle when a spiritual battle is won. We are made to serve God with lively enthusiasm, an enthusiasm that increases after each victory. Heaven would not be heaven without the rest that God gives, but also without the activity that is part of a totally purified life.

This week, my degree course asks the question: What is Jesus doing now? The simple answer is that He is sitting at the right hand of the Father, but He is also forever interceding for us, and in some wonderful and mysterious way is present in the life of each Christian, guiding and helping each follower. That means He is busier now than He ever was while here on earth, yet more at rest for He has made our salvation complete. The sacrifice was made, atonement was accomplished; it is finished. But the work of His Body, the church, goes on, and He is right in the middle of that work.

Jesus shows us our future. What is happening with Him right now will also happen with us. We will sit down to rest beside that glassy sea; our battles are over. Be we will also be filled with fiery energy for whatever He gives us to do.

May God grant grace today so I can be more than a conqueror through Him who loves me. In that victory, may my rest in Him and my zeal to serve Him also increase. May I begin even now to walk with him in white on the sea of glass mixed with fire.