What I've Learned about Rest Part II
Yesterday, I shared a bit about what I learned about rest. I suggested that rest is mandatory, and that rest happens properly upon appropriate completion of work. It sounds simple enough -- but why do most of us -- myself included -- find this so difficult to implement?
Rest is Incredibly Difficult: I thought my first day of my Sabbatical would be light-hearted, easy-going, and carefree. It wasn't. I found myself somewhat anxious and uneasy. It didn't quite feel right not to be working. I suspect that is the case for many of us. It feels, well, wrong to take a day off, maybe even lazy or immoral to stop our work, and choose to play instead. Probe that a bit in your mind -- especially if you struggle to rest. What I found is a lurking temptation that I have to build my identity on what I do. So often, we convince ourselves that doing = being. I want to justify myself by being successful, by accomplishing a lot, or by making sure that my children accomplish a lot. Pastors can be a driven lot, but so are many of us. We work 50 or 60 hours a week (or more) aiming for the next promotion. We refuse to use up our vacation time each year, and feel oddly proud of that fact. We wear our busyness as a badge of honor, even as it grinds us down. Why? Because on some
level, we fear letting go. We fear what might happen to the people who depend on us. We fear that our children won't have all the opportunities that their peers will have or that they won't have enough extra-curricular stuff to put on their college applications. And so I was anxious my first day resting. Would the church be okay? Would members leave? Would ministries struggle without me there? What if conflict came up? How would our interns handle the demands of ministry? Do you see what's buried beneath all of this? On some level, we are deluded with visions of grandeur about our size in the world. We like to believe we are far more important, far more powerful, and far more necessary than we really are. Resting feels like a betrayal of ourselves, and of those who depend on us.
Rest is Received as a Gift: There are two reasons that God tells His people to rest. In fact, in all the Ten Commandments, only the command to honor the Sabbath differs significantly between the version found in Exodus 20 and the version found in Deuteronomy 6. But note -- they differ, but they don't contradict. In Exodus 20 God commands his people to rest because "in 6 days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, but on the 7th he rested." To put it simply, God commands His people to rest based on the pattern set in creation. God rested at the conclusion of his work, therefore we too may rest. Or, to look at this a bit differently, we rest best when we trust that God is in control, and not us. If we want to begin to enjoy rest fully and properly, we must first trust that we are not nearly as powerful or in our own life as we might like to admit. Our children will not grow to be healthy, well-adjusted children because we put them in every activity under the sun. Churches will not grow and thrive because the pastor is a superstar.
Furthermore, rest flows out of trusting who we really are in Christ. We can spend our whole lives frantically trying to build an identity. Trying to prove to the world that we are someone -- that we are intelligent, that we are good parents, that we are successful in our respective field, that we are productive members of our community, that we are the perfect spouse... and on it goes. That pursuit creates a busyness that flows from a deep insecurity -- and sadly, we never feel like we are enough. In the Deuteronomy version of the Ten Commandments, the rationale given for Sabbath is simple: "Remember that you were slaves, and that God set you free." In other words, God commands His people to rest because they are a liberated people. Free from the yoke of oppression, liberated to be his people. In the bible, slavery is a pattern for a deeper form of oppression -- namely, our sin. But of course, in Christ, God has led a superior Exodus. Indeed, we must "remember that we were slaves" but more importantly, God has set us free at the cross. Guilt and condemnation no longer hang over us, but better yet, we have been liberated in order to become a people belonging to God. So we don't need to spend our whole lives trying to craft an identity. We don't need to spend our whole lives trying to prove ourselves, or show that we are someone. We have the identity that really matters. Our lives rest in the care of a Father who loves us and who promises to care for us and give us all we need.
This, by the way, is why true rest can't be separated from worship. Biblically, God's people aren't just commanded to take the day off -- they were called to devote the day to God in worship. Worship was and is a way to reorient our focus. We are bombarded with messages about who the world tells us we should be. Every. Single. Day. Worship reminds us constantly: This is who you are. Jesus is more important than everything else put together. Jesus is more precious than the wealth of the world. Who you are in Jesus is your joy, your strength, your confidence.
That's how and why we rest. That's why rest isn't merely a suggestion or a good idea -- but it's what God calls us and invites us to do. It's why Jesus' invitation to himself is built on the idea of rest: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
Thanks for following along this summer as we've explored what it means to rest! I'll probably post another post or two about "re-entry" and how that goes, but after that, this blog will go quiet for awhile. It's been a joy to write and share my thoughts and reflections here, and I hope it's been meaningful for you as well.
Rest is Incredibly Difficult: I thought my first day of my Sabbatical would be light-hearted, easy-going, and carefree. It wasn't. I found myself somewhat anxious and uneasy. It didn't quite feel right not to be working. I suspect that is the case for many of us. It feels, well, wrong to take a day off, maybe even lazy or immoral to stop our work, and choose to play instead. Probe that a bit in your mind -- especially if you struggle to rest. What I found is a lurking temptation that I have to build my identity on what I do. So often, we convince ourselves that doing = being. I want to justify myself by being successful, by accomplishing a lot, or by making sure that my children accomplish a lot. Pastors can be a driven lot, but so are many of us. We work 50 or 60 hours a week (or more) aiming for the next promotion. We refuse to use up our vacation time each year, and feel oddly proud of that fact. We wear our busyness as a badge of honor, even as it grinds us down. Why? Because on some level, we fear letting go. We fear what might happen to the people who depend on us. We fear that our children won't have all the opportunities that their peers will have or that they won't have enough extra-curricular stuff to put on their college applications. And so I was anxious my first day resting. Would the church be okay? Would members leave? Would ministries struggle without me there? What if conflict came up? How would our interns handle the demands of ministry? Do you see what's buried beneath all of this? On some level, we are deluded with visions of grandeur about our size in the world. We like to believe we are far more important, far more powerful, and far more necessary than we really are. Resting feels like a betrayal of ourselves, and of those who depend on us.
Rest is Received as a Gift: There are two reasons that God tells His people to rest. In fact, in all the Ten Commandments, only the command to honor the Sabbath differs significantly between the version found in Exodus 20 and the version found in Deuteronomy 6. But note -- they differ, but they don't contradict. In Exodus 20 God commands his people to rest because "in 6 days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, but on the 7th he rested." To put it simply, God commands His people to rest based on the pattern set in creation. God rested at the conclusion of his work, therefore we too may rest. Or, to look at this a bit differently, we rest best when we trust that God is in control, and not us. If we want to begin to enjoy rest fully and properly, we must first trust that we are not nearly as powerful or in our own life as we might like to admit. Our children will not grow to be healthy, well-adjusted children because we put them in every activity under the sun. Churches will not grow and thrive because the pastor is a superstar.
Furthermore, rest flows out of trusting who we really are in Christ. We can spend our whole lives frantically trying to build an identity. Trying to prove to the world that we are someone -- that we are intelligent, that we are good parents, that we are successful in our respective field, that we are productive members of our community, that we are the perfect spouse... and on it goes. That pursuit creates a busyness that flows from a deep insecurity -- and sadly, we never feel like we are enough. In the Deuteronomy version of the Ten Commandments, the rationale given for Sabbath is simple: "Remember that you were slaves, and that God set you free." In other words, God commands His people to rest because they are a liberated people. Free from the yoke of oppression, liberated to be his people. In the bible, slavery is a pattern for a deeper form of oppression -- namely, our sin. But of course, in Christ, God has led a superior Exodus. Indeed, we must "remember that we were slaves" but more importantly, God has set us free at the cross. Guilt and condemnation no longer hang over us, but better yet, we have been liberated in order to become a people belonging to God. So we don't need to spend our whole lives trying to craft an identity. We don't need to spend our whole lives trying to prove ourselves, or show that we are someone. We have the identity that really matters. Our lives rest in the care of a Father who loves us and who promises to care for us and give us all we need.
This, by the way, is why true rest can't be separated from worship. Biblically, God's people aren't just commanded to take the day off -- they were called to devote the day to God in worship. Worship was and is a way to reorient our focus. We are bombarded with messages about who the world tells us we should be. Every. Single. Day. Worship reminds us constantly: This is who you are. Jesus is more important than everything else put together. Jesus is more precious than the wealth of the world. Who you are in Jesus is your joy, your strength, your confidence.
That's how and why we rest. That's why rest isn't merely a suggestion or a good idea -- but it's what God calls us and invites us to do. It's why Jesus' invitation to himself is built on the idea of rest: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
Thanks for following along this summer as we've explored what it means to rest! I'll probably post another post or two about "re-entry" and how that goes, but after that, this blog will go quiet for awhile. It's been a joy to write and share my thoughts and reflections here, and I hope it's been meaningful for you as well.
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