Summer & Sabbath

This week I will not be teaching, but Petar is substituting for me. He handed me his notes for the lesson and I wanted to share some of my thoughts with you. I really like his lesson because it is something I need reminded of often and I bet you do too.

Rest is what we need

Jesus calls us to come to him if we are tired and weary and He will give us rest. Part of the curse of sin means we are in a daily struggle with work. We are only human, which means we are flesh and blood. We are prone to weakness, to sickness, to exhaustion. We often times try to deny our physical limitations and we push push push. Then we get cranky, mean, angry or sick. We wonder why, but it simple. We have forgotten rest.

In the order of creation, God wired us for a sabbath’s day rest. He created the world in 6 days and took the 7^th day as rest. We too desperately need to rest. A weekly rest helps us realize that God is the one who is in control and not us. When I was in college an RA said a phrase that helped me when it comes to thinking about a Sabbath days rest. “A Sabbath helps you realize that the grass will grow, the sun will rise, life will go on with out your assistance.” God is God and I am not. Rest helps me remember my place.

Rest is what we offer

If you avoid rest, sleep and caring for yourself, it will manifest in your attitude and actions. If you become exhausted you will have a short fuse, a cranky attitude or just get sick. Rest is good for your health and affects how you interact with others.

When we understand the importance of rest, we become agents of rest. We begin to become like Christ and care for the needs of others. We help them find rest in this weary world.

Helping the homeless on Sunday has been a way that I’ve seen many of our teens bring rest to a troubled soul. These homeless men and women tell me each week how much they look forward to seeing our group and how uplifted they are by simple acts of kindness. Just providing a moment to look forward to each week is enough for some of these guys to keep going. Being an agent of rest is being Christ like.

This summer, don’t allow your activities to get you so busy that you fail to stop and consider that God is who He says He is and He will do what He promises to do. He has prescribed rest and He is your rest. May you find time each day and week to rest in Christ.