What, Exactly, Are We Resting From?

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens.It’s summertime here in New England and the smell of BBQs wafts through the air. It’s a nice reprieve from the harsh winters we often endure. So go the seasons. By the end of the summer, after having sweat gallons of water out of our bodies, we New Englanders will be ready for the fall. Just ask us (we have a habit of anticipating the next season while complaining about the current one dragging on…you know, the same one we were anticipating so richly last season…lol). It’s summer now, so I’ll stick with it to help our plot along.Summer represents sun and fun and pool time, or beaches for many. It also means it’s time to catch up on those projects that were put off during the winter. So there’s work to be done. Americans are really good at packing their schedules chalk full and then lamenting their days afterwards. Summer quickly becomes a time of chaos, between the honey-do lists and the yard/home projects, then trying to squeeze these things in between graduation parties, family reunions, sporting events, etc. Life can quickly become filled to the point of exhaustion. And for many, that’s as far as it goes.But what about Jesus?…insert sound of scratching record…Where does He fit into our busy schedules (what we compliment each other for being oh-so-talented at completing)?Isn’t He the one who said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20)? This is called “The Great Commission”. We’re all held accountable to it, regardless of spiritual gift. It’s a command. Resting in the absence of it in our lives is not a command.

What if we’re all “too tired” to follow this one command?How often do we run into friends while out and about and they say, “What’s up for the weekend?” And we respond with, “Well, I just need to relax…it’s already been a busy summer.” And our friends nod in agreement. We all love the idea of resting, but what, exactly, are we resting from? That, my friends, is the big question.If all we ever find ourselves resting from are activities that have nothing to do with the Great Commission, I wonder what God’s opinion of said rest is? I mean, even Jesus rested, right? He did rest, but the distinction between Jesus and most people is that He was resting as a result of doing His Father’s will. That was always His first priority. How many of us can say that? Most are as Solomon stated:I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind. The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.What Solomon so wisely wrote about was the cause and effect that I write about now, thousands of years later. As he, himself, would say, “There’s nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Solomon warns us of our motivation for working hard and being tired as a result. If it, “is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor,” then it is no good. The Word of God says we are supposed to be living for our neighbors, not competing against them.If we’re going to rest from anything, it ought to be from our labor as servants of the Most High God. With this attitude, we find true rest. As Jesus said:“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”A “yoke” is something an ox wears while plowing or threshing. It implies real labor. The Holy Scriptures explain that hard work (working for Christ, for others) is a blessing. The primary rest that the Bible speaks of is a spiritual reality, not necessarily a physical one. What’s physical rest in the absence of spiritual rest? How does one find themselves having to ask such a question? Something to ponder.But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.I wonder sometimes, what happens in the soul when the Spirit convicts us of something as profound as the Great Commission, and most are off barbecuing and such, ignoring His command to “go and make disciples”? I wonder how much ingenuity it takes to read the Bible and still live for self. I wonder at how terrifically talented we are at justifying our own ungodliness.Again, the big question here is, what, exactly, are we resting from? Is it exhaustion from working so hard at our jobs? That’d be acceptable if people weren’t actually “storing up treasures for [themselves]” (Luke 12:21). Are our families pooped out because our kids have joined so many activities and sports teams that nobody has any time for church or the Bible? Are we actually trying to justify such things to ourselves? Are we perpetually drained because we’re in the midst of some dysfunctional cycle of “party on the weekends” and then grind it out over the weekdays? These are the honest questions we must ask ourselves.Just remember what the Word of God has to say. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27). We all have a cross to bear, a yoke to harness into. We need to cast off the bondage that suggests we’ve somehow earned our rest. Whose economy are we functioning in? We are slaves - we are to rest when our Master says to rest. Most are resting from self-induced weariness, and our Master is not pleased.Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Love in Christ,

Ed Collins