The last few nights I’ve been plunking into bed late, exhausted and grateful. Do you know the feeling? The feeling of when you fall into bed and go immediately into a deep sleep? Your body is so thirsty for it and it feels like it tries to soak in as much rest as possible. That’s the best part of a grueling day for me. Here’s something from Hebrews:
“Since therefore it remains for some to enter [God's rest], and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, ‘Today,’ saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” Hebrews 4:6-10
Joshua did not lead the Israelites into the final rest of God, the Promised Land. The Promised Land awaits us still, and we are called to strive to enter into the Sabbath rest of God. At the end of this long, tiring life, I look forward to soaking in the rest of God, knowing that all that laboring was worth it.
I want to work hard today for God’s kingdom, His name, and His glory, fighting sin, fighting the enemy, and winning souls. I want to not live thinking that the next vacation is what I strive after. Completing a final is not where my mind is set. It’s not on the weekends, the next holiday, or the end of my education at Talbot. It’s not on obtaining a career. It’s for something greater. I’m to work hard at all these things, enjoying the goods, suffering through the bad, with my mind wholly locked on the Sabbath rest of God. Until then, I don’t live like this world is my home. (“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken” Heb 12:28).
It’s going to be sweet rest. I’m glad we have a day devoted in the week to remember where we are to have our eyes fixed, and that God exampled it for us.
#1 by Jay on May 25, 2011 - 3:55 pm
Good post Nate! I leave you with a joke (as told by Steve Bang Lee):
How do you know it is biblical for the males to make coffee?
Because it says in the book that He-Brews.
#2 by keziahkim on May 31, 2011 - 3:51 pm
what a glorious hope. you are one of the hardest working people i know. you challenge & encourage me =]