Rest

Jesus rested and practiced solitude perfectly. He often said no to good things in order to take time alone with the Father. He often put a pause on the work of His ministry to just be with His loved ones without an agenda. Yet He wasn’t monotonous about this; He flabbergasted the pharisees by doing good work of the Kingdom of God on the Sabbath. 

An unknown secular author’s quote reads, “if you don’t have time to do what matters, stop doing what doesn’t matter.” This is difficult as a disciple of Christ because it not only involves stopping obvious things that are not of the Lord, but also stopping good things He is not calling us to, so we can have time for the good things that He is calling us to. 

This requires listening, submitting, trusting, and open hands to follow the Holy Spirit as He leads. Jesus modeled this perfectly to us. He did not chase living a comfortable life or wealth, yet he glorified our Father by enjoying God’s good creation through quality time with friends and good food. Andrew Murray states, “Abiding in Christ, the soul learns not only to desire but spiritually to discern what will be for God’s glory.”

Jesus didn’t concern Himself with what others’ thought of Him or how the word of God often offended people. No, instead He focussed on what His Abba Father thought of Him. A devotion I listened to recently wisely pointed out that the Father spoke “this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased” over Jesus prior to His formal ministry actually starting (Lectio365). It was during Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan River, before Jesus did any extraordinary miracles. It was before He turned water into wine at the wedding feast. It was before He healed lepers, lame, and deaf. It was before He raised Lazarus or the centurion’s daughter from the dead. It was before He turned 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish into a meal for thousands with leftovers. It was before He walked on water. It was before Jesus evangelized and witnessed publicly, and before He conquered sin on the cross. 

How often do we live by the belief that our Abba God will be pleased with us when we do this, or when we look like that, instead of right here and right now? How often do we allow these accusations and distractions to cause us to strive unnecessarily, keeping us from doing what God is calling us to in this season? 

We need to instead live confidently in the truth that we are clothed in Christ and beloved by God (Warren, 2018). This is true now in this moment, as we are, washed with the blood of Christ. 

Alan Fadling describes the invitation of Psalm 26:2-3 to “place the Lord’s love before my eyes….imagine the face of God smiling with favor…envision His pleasure over me as His child…trust that His love is always greater than my shortcomings” (2022). Sometimes it is a good thing that the Holy Spirit is inviting us to abstain from so that we either renew or keep “His love before our eyes” (Psalm 26:2-3). 

Ya’ll, this is hard. Saying no to good things is difficult. And it often looks different for each of His unique individual children and can change season to season. 

For me, in this season, it is choosing to say no to previous work demands so that I can say yes to a summer of intentional sabbatical rest with God and new work in the fall. It’s saying yes to God’s calling to be a spiritual mother by submitting to and trusting His current no to being a biological mother. It’s saying no to following the world’s ways of making as much money as possible and saying yes to my treasure and security in Jesus. It’s saying no to being super goal-oriented by hiking all of the Adirondack high peaks this summer and saying yes to summiting them one by one with no specific timeline. It’s saying yes to many quiet summer evenings on the porch with my husband by saying no to a schedule that is over-booked with other good things keeping us from this quality time together. It’s saying yes to enjoying my childhood dream come true riding my horse regularly, by saying no to perhaps more practical items that culture deems more appropriate for a woman in her young thirties.

God is not stagnate and neither is our relationship with Him. He will call me to say yes and no to different things in different seasons. Murray eloquently explains that when we abide in Christ through prayer we are unified with Him living for God’s glory (1888). He calls us to say yes to sharing our ever changing and growing story of life with Jesus with others. In discipleship relationships we can encourage each other to say no to our Jesus-replacements, unnecessary strivings, and over-booked schedules we often fall into, and spur each other on to say yes to Him and the good things He is inviting us do. Christ be glorified! 

Nicole topits