Unrest and Our Rest
I have friends that are cops. I have friends that are black. I have friends that think COVID-19 is a hoax and friends that I couldn’t coax out of their house if I tried.
Friends, we are in a time of unrest; economic, social, political, and physical. I’m not trying to be dour or dark. I believe that is an accurate articulation of our current time. And yet people are pining for peace and rest.
Where is this peace and rest to be found?
Jesus purchased peace with God for us and will soon bring an eternal peaceful reign to the world but Jesus didn’t purchase a sleeping pill for the masses. And He doesn’t lull us to sleep. We are to neither be restless nor so settled that we don’t stir. We are to be a blessing to the cities and towns and villages that we dwell in even while we are exiles and sojourners here (Jer. 29:7). So, we are to care and be wise but thankfully our eggs are not placed in the basket of this world.
Jesus said. “Come to Me all who are restless and tired and I will give you rest for your souls.” Jesus doesn’t, however, call us to just rest and relax. He doesn’t call us to be lethargic but to love. And thankfully Jesus empowers us to do this. It is as we abide in Him that we bear much fruit.
The truth is, we are responsible to love and not just be lethargic to everything that’s going on. The truth is, we’re powerless but Jesus empowers us by the Spirit. The truth is, we live in a place that is very often godless and chaotic but Christ is the Lord. The truth is, many are restless but in Christ, all can find rest. The truth is, we need a savior, this world won’t change on its own.
Brutality to blacks is an unacceptable evil that Messiah Jesus will judge. Brutality to cops, looting of stores, disregard for people, and even property, is evil and will be judged. There will come a day of rest because there will come a day when King Jesus soon returns and puts a stop to the restless tyranny of sin and Satan’s reign (2 Pet. 3). Jesus will destroy the destroyers of the earth (Rev. 11:18).
Until then, the LORD patiently waits in love for people to repent (2 Pet. 3:9). And so, until that Day, let’s love and share the LORD’s love and lovingly fight for the cause of all those that are oppressed and hurting. And let’s show them that all hearts are restless until they rest in Him.
Let’s pray for people to find peace in the One that was oppressed and afflicted for them.
“O my God, incline Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations … For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of Your great mercy.” (Dan. 9:18).
Practice Unproductivity (part 3)
Commanded to Rest
The concept of Sabbath is almost entirely gone.[1] It is one thing to enforce sabbatarian “blue laws” on a whole country,[2] it is another thing to think we are self-sufficient and have no need for any type of Sabbath.
This is not the place to have a big argument on the Sabbath so I don’t intend to do that here. But, I think it should be clear that we must honor the Sabbath in some way. We must at least set aside time to intentionally rest and reflect…
The Bible says we are commanded to rest.[3] It says, “Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy.” The Sabbath was primarily a day of rest. So, we could paraphrase, “Honor the day of rest, set it apart, keep it.” So, “We do not rest because our work is done; we rest because God commanded it and created us to have a need for it.”[4]
Practice Unproductivity (part 2)
Our Supposed Self-Sufficiency and Rest
“Only the weak rest.” That’s how we’re tempted to think. We play god. We think we can be everywhere and be everything to everyone as fast and as efficiently as possible.
We play god. We hate limits! We have military macho (makes me think of the nacho man commercial). We believe we can do everything and if we can’t there’s a problem. A problem with us, we’re weak, or a problem with someone or something else. We think we’re unlimited. We think we can play god. It’s really a form of idolatry.
This carries over to our work as well. Our relationship with work is way out of whack.[1] We admire workaholics and will sacrifice our marriage and kid(s) to the god of success and achievement. We are out of step with the reality of our needs and limits.[2]
Practice Unproductivity (part 1)
“Practice unproductivity,” what?! The phrase, especially outside of DC, sounds almost heretical. You probably cringed when you read it and you’re probably tempted to stop reading.
It’s important to realize, when I say, “practice unproductiveness” that I’m not saying binge YouTube, play candy crush, or Fortnight. Please don’t do any of those things. I’m actually talking about Sabbath rest…
Sacrifice and Sabbath Rest
Aren’t we supposed to be living sacrifices? Isn’t that what Romans 12:1 says?
Living sacrifices don’t spend their time sitting around eating bonbons. They die. They give themselves away.
Charles Spurgeon essentially worked himself into the grave. And the Apostle Paul was absolutely willing to spend and be spent for the sake of the gospel.
So, what does the Bible say? Sacrifice or Sabbath rest?
“…yet to be filled…”
Today’s culture believes that you can’t be fulfilled unless you can have the “partner” you want, whether male, female, multiple, or in some other combination that is preferred, and yet so many signs tell us that humanity has yet to be fulfilled. Take, for example, all the recent rich and famous people, people that many of us would think would be fulfilled, that have committed suicide or died of drug overdose.
What does all this tell us? Or as Blaise Pascal says,
“What is it then that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, but that there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself.”
We have eternity in our hearts. We seek for good gifts, that have become tainted fruit, to fulfill. But they can’t, they were never designed to. Legalizing same sex marriage isn’t the solution. Drugs are not, sex is not, success is not… Not kids, money, things, marriage… They all fail. There’s nothing to be finally gained under the sun.
We need that for which our souls were made. We need the LORD. Jesus the promised Messiah alone gives eternal shalom for our souls.
in X 