Work to Rest

 Hebrews 4:10, 11a - "For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest..." - NIV

 This concept of working to rest is probably one of the most counter-intuitive ideas in Scripture. Yet God - being inscrutable, or hard to figure out - is full of opposites like this. Dying to live. Humbling ourselves and being lifted up. 

This one, written by the author of Hebrews (whether Paul or not, it doesn't matter), is particularly hard to fathom. Working to [enter God's] rest?  For many years, I thought it meant that we work our behinds off in order to reach Heaven, which never made sense to me, because that interpretation flies in the face of Grace being undeserved favour, as opposed to works being something about which we could boast ... something God would never allow. After all, if we could work our way to Heaven, why did Jesus have to die?

But the context of this passage in Hebrews indicates present tense, as if God's rest is something we can achieve now! The key is in resting from our own work (vs 10), and on the surface, that makes no sense, because how can we labour (make every effort) to rest from our own work? 

But Jesus DID die. And that is the answer to the mystery. Because Jesus died, and offered God's grace to us freely, we can stop striving as if we had to EARN God's favour, because we already HAVE it. We can rest in what Jesus did for us, because that was enough.  That's our foundation. That's our solid rock. We can depend on that, and not anything that WE do. 

There is such freedom in that fact. We can rest in it, be grateful for it, and learn to cease striving to be accepted, because in Jesus, we already ARE. THAT is the rest we enter.

And entering that rest seems so simple that we stumble over it. Just Jesus? 

Yes, Just Jesus. 

So why must we make every effort (or as the KJV puts it, 'labour')? (vs. 11a)

Maintaining that focus of "just Jesus", when all around us, people are telling us to do this, do that, do something else, do, do, do ... putting all those voices behind us and focusing on resting in His finished work ... is hard work!! It goes against our human nature, to rest, to trust, to relax into what He has done for us. We humans want to DO something! We want to have a hand in our own fate, be masters of our own future, be recognized for our own efforts. 

Free image from Pixabay

But that is not God's way. We are told here to work on maintaining our focus on resting in what God has already provided for us - so that anything that we do FOR Him becomes an outflow of gratitude, rather that wondering if what we do is "enough."  

From a human perspective, working to rest seems backward. It's upside-down. But it's true. God is like that. He's enigmatic. He cannot be "pegged." His grace knows NO bounds. 

I could go on at length about how that wonderful truth plays out in our lives on an everyday basis, but I think it best to leave the concept with each one to grapple with this idea ... not an easy one, to be sure. 

I think that it is worth the time it takes to ponder. 

Attraction

 "The message I got was always, 'God is great, you're a worm, try harder.' "
      - - a teen after leaving the church

"Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion..."
      - - Tradition #11 of Alcoholics Anonymous

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Once in a while, I go to the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and read the heart of the book, chapter 5, which talks about how the alcoholic cannot hope to change or get rid of his core problem (which is NOT alcohol, by the way; alcohol is only a symptom) without God being the Director of his or her life. It's an eye-opener for many people. It was for me the first time I heard those steps.

Even though the book does not specifically mention Jesus, the 12 steps of AA are a blueprint for having a personal relationship with God based on admitting our need, submitting to Him and repenting of an old lifestyle to embrace, day by day, "a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty." (chapter 5). This was Jesus' message to a T.

My quotes, above, contrast the current message the western church sends to people against the approach that AA takes toward bringing new people in to embrace their message. They are polar opposites. And that - in my opinion - is so very sad. Many people are revolted by the judgment and the bigotry that is so rampant in those who call themselves Christians and attend church on Sunday, yet use their beliefs as a weapon to exclude rather than as a magnet to attract. 

Free image by hince at Pixabay

But it was not always so. The early church lived their lives in such a way that people were drawn to the Saviour. They didn't pound people over the head with the Scriptures or judge them for their debauchery. They loved each other, supported each other, and cared for each other's needs. THAT in itself would attract people to the Lover of our souls. True, they did not participate in the practices of the people around them who were not followers of The Way. But they did not torch their temples, mutilate their artwork, or protest their bath-houses either. (That only came later, once someone made Christianity the state religion...) No, their policy was the same as AA's. Attract. Yes, they were to 'preach the gospel' but largely through their lives, by living a lifestyle of love, by healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, AND NOT by shoving a 20-something pound Bible down their throats. They lived life to the full, not by insisting on a bunch of rules and demanding perfection, but by listening to the Voice of Love.

Love accepts. Love does not keep a record of wrongs. Love perseveres. Love is loyal. Love believes the best of people. Love gives. Love cares. Love forgives. And since God is Love, God is all those things ... and more. 

My calling - if you can call it that - my passion, possibly even my ministry - is to wake the dead. Not the pagans. Not the 'unwashed' ... but believers. 

Listen to the Voice of Love. Receive His Love and pass it on: no conditions, no rules, no judgment! Accept. Believe. Give. Forgive. Care. Just as He did for you.

May God - who is Love - show that Love to you today ... in a new and fresh way.

He Touched Me!

" ... 'Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.'
And Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. "
'I am willing,' He said. 'Be clean!'.." - Matthew 8: 2, 3

The story of the leper is probably one of my favourite stories in the Gospels. Not so much because of the (then) impossibility of healing leprosy, but because of something else.

When I read Scripture, I like to put myself in the story. I become the woman at the well, the man in the tree, the blind beggar. In this case, I become the leper.

Ostracized by society.
Separated from family and friends.
Jobless. Homeless.
Having to advertise his disease to any and all who approached. "UNCLEAN!"
Hated. Feared.
Hopeless.

Not for years has he known the touch of a human hand. And then, Jesus.

From a distance, he has watched Jesus heal others. And somehow, he knows that just a word from the Master will heal him. And Jesus turns his attention to him. Him, the unclean one. Him, the diseased one. And Jesus asks him what he wants.

Humbly, he makes his request. "But only if You want to."

Jesus could have just said the words. But He didn't. 

He REACHED OUT to this man IN HIS DISEASE and TOUCHED him.

Monumental. NOBODY touched a leper.

But Jesus did. 

Let that sink in. Jesus touched one of the most feared and hated, one of the most disgusting-looking people on the planet. And He did so BEFORE He healed him. 

I imagine that even years later, the clean (formerly leprous) man could still recall the feeling of a clean person touching his diseased face.

"I want to." Jesus' intentions were clear. He wasn't doing this because He was expected to. He was doing this because He WANTED to.

"Be clean." The outward appearance was only a symbol of what was already happening in his heart. Regeneration.

And now others can see his healing - the healing that had already happened inside because Jesus touched him. 

Free image by Fabian Geiske at Unsplash.com

What other than gratitude could be his response?

He'd been touched by the kindest hand ever, rescued from his horrible circumstances, able to go back to his family and friends, given hope, given peace, given a way to enter the workforce again and support his children. In that moment, he was whole again. Whole. Clean. Restored. Born anew. 

His natural response would be to be grateful, to love as he had been loved, to serve the One who had reached out to him in his disease and distress. 

Only those who have discovered the depths of His love and grace can truly understand how a desire to please the Master can be the only response to relief from that kind of suffering. 

You and I cannot know that depth of gratitude. Or can we? Weren't we completely lost, without hope, without peace, judged, dismissed, unseen, unloved until He reached out His hand of grace to us? Weren't we just like that leper? If our sins and our brokenness could have shown on the outside of our bodies, would they not be as broken as his was? Once He touched us and cleansed our disease of that horrible sin nature from us, were we not as free to be our true selves?

I think so. I am grateful, thrilled, worshipful. 

Aren't you?