I don’t know about you, but when I am practicing nearly anything I tend to need to have reminders to be sure I am making the most of my practice. My personal trainer catches me when I am practicing an exercise in a way that will miss what I want to achieve or might also cause injury for me. I love that as well as the relationship we have and the chatting that sometimes even lets me forget she just asked me to do something I think is impossible.

 

Before I submit a post like this I reread it many times looking for things that might need editing or tweaking in some way. Nonetheless, I can miss something small that makes me cringe when I see it on the site. So, my dear husband reads each one to see how it hits him and if I have something to fix.

 

There are lots of places for me to practice the rest I have been talking about in the last two posts and things for me to keep in mind to insure my practices gradually become increasingly effective.

 

One of the first things I need to practice to increase the quality and quantity of rest is to deal with my preoccupations and distractions about the necessities of life. I need to adjust the rhythm of my daily schedule in order to create a climate that allows space for my own awareness of God.

 

I am working on this one first because it is the hardest for me. One tool I use with this is Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 10:5:

 

“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” (ESV)

 

I have received the gift of rest in Him, but my part is to practice using the gift and to preserve and shelter it from all that would seek to erode all the ways it guards my heart, mind, and spirit from rabbit trails, temptations, and pursuits that are not for my good or His glory.

 

Please note when I talk about practicing rest, I am not talking about failing to do what is required, right, or good. That would be sloth, an old-fashioned word that refers to a dullness of the spirit. This rest I speak of is not about kicking back and lazing around having no interest or care in or for anything.

 

A second thing I practice in rest is leaning more fully into trusting the Lord. That means when I let go of things that distract me or preoccupy me and get me stuck in ruminating, I remember God is fully for me. As His child, I trust Him for those things I keep trying to resolve on my own or things that tempt me to involvements and commitments that did not originate with Him.

 

The third area I seek to keep in check is ambition. Sometimes it can be easy to get caught up in self-validation by trying to be more, do more, or get more. (Self-validation is something all of us use to one degree or another at times to refute that nagging sense we are not competent or worthy.) Ambition and rest are incompatible.

 

In The Radical Pursuit of Rest, John Koessler reminds me:

 

“If the primary aim of our ambition is to be noticed, we ought to recall that we live within sight of the one who sees the sparrow fall to the ground.”

 

In Him, in His rest, we can be assured our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life and what could we ever attain by ambition that compares with that?

 

Practicing His rest allows the passion He has placed within me to be continually renewed by His Spirit to accomplish what He has called me to be and do. Remembering that gives me quality practice in rest.

 

 One of the places that are especially good for practicing rest is in worship. Worship ushers me into His presence creating an oasis where I can meditate on Him, listen for and to Him. In worship, I can contemplate on who He is and enter into Him in ways few other experiences offer.

 

Eugene Peterson explains, “Worship is an act of attention to the living God who rules, speaks, and reveals, creates and redeems, orders and blesses.”

 

 John Koessler says, “Worship is not a feast we lay out for God. It is a table on which God spreads his feast for us.”

 

 Pursuing and practicing rest is in truth pursuing the Lord.

 

In the noisy world we all live in, that includes utilizing the spiritual disciplines of solitude and silence Dallas Willard writes about.

 

As I increasingly recognize this gift of rest is also not only for my growth and nurture, but also to prepare me for whatever lays ahead I identify with Paul’s words to the Philippians:

 

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Jesus Christ has made me his own.” Phil. 3:12

 

 

 

 

 

What did I miss on my quest for rest?

I thought rest was something I needed to do or not do. It was something I needed to accomplish, achieve, and succeed at. If I was not, then there was something more that I needed to do.

The truth is that was the wrong path all along.

 

Doing that is akin to trying to be good enough for God by doing the right things, more of the right things, and even more of the right things in order to hope it was enough to achieve His righteousness.

 

I know that is utter foolishness. I could never be right enough or good enough to get to that goal. I didn’t need to attempt to do that before I could ask Him for help or forgiveness any more than the blood of bulls could accomplish that for the children of Israel.

 

I could only come into His presence through the gift of grace. I needed to receive it. I could not achieve it.

 

When I chose to accept the gift, only then was I clothed in righteousness (HIS) that allowed me to come into His presence, abide with Him, and grow a deeply intimate relationship with Him.

 

What I missed on my quest for rest is that rest is also a gift! It is not something I can do for myself.

 

In The Radical Pursuit of Rest, John Koessler points out:

 

“Jesus is the subject of the verb in Matthew 11:28 and we are the object. What Jesus says might be translated something like “I will rest you” or “I will refresh you.” This rest is as relational as it is experiential. We come to Christ and he refreshes us. We do not come to Christ, receive our rest and then go on our way. By offering us rest, Christ offers himself.”

 

Wow! What a surprise!

 

That brings richer understanding of the words in Hebrews 3 when the writer speaks of those who were unable to enter into rest because of “unbelief”. Trusting Him seems to equal resting in Him. Failing to rest in Him means not trusting or believing in Him, which equals disobedience.

 

Hebrews posits rest as a location, a destination. Once I receive it (the gift), then I can learn to practice it as a discipline even as I do with grace as Jerry Bridges talks about in his wonderful book, The Discipline of Grace.

 

I can find rest then by receiving it as a gift from Jesus even as I receive Him through grace. Experiencing it, knowing what it is like, allows me to begin to practice it no matter what kind of day or season I am walking through.

 

 Growing in grace was gradual, but we have the promise that God through Jesus will accomplish the work as Paul writes in Philippians 1:6:

 

“And I am sure of this, that he who began “a good work in you” will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

 

I believe the corollary about rest fits here as well. Growing in rest is a gradual thing, practicing it helps us to better maintain it. It means being in Him.

 

When I practice being in Him, I experience energy that points to doing Christian action. That is when His yoke feels easy and His burden feels light. Practicing rest does not mean I do nothing for Him, but it does mean I am doing His leading for me.

 

But what about all the stress, the things I need to do, the cares of this life?

 

Looking at it from that perspective, I am reminded that none of those things negate grace. I think there is also a parallel that none of those things negate rest because if I am truly abiding in Him, then I trust Him for all of my provision in every area.

 

I am not relying on myself to accomplish all of it. I am also tuning in to His voice for His leading, which invariably results in my discovery of the provision He has for me.

 

Have I achieved this as yet? No. I am still practicing, but I am learning to practice this more accurately. What I mean is this. If I practice a piece of music habitually not following the exact notes or time signature, I will never play the music as it was meant to be played. If I am not practicing with the right fingering it will be more difficult to play the music as well.

 

I have had a hint of this in my relationship with Him for a long time. I know that on days I felt I was too late, too rushed, or too busy to take time to simply be with Him at the beginning of my day and rush off without that time, I never get the things done that need to be accomplished that day. If, however, I hold distraction at bay and quiet myself for a few minutes to enter into Him, those minutes somehow get multiplied and I get more done that day than I had hoped to accomplish.

 

If I am practicing rest as the gift only He can give, I will grow to experience it more as He intends no matter what my daily circumstances may be.

 

 

 

Nearly everyone I talk with these days mentions something about being tired, not sleeping well, or not getting enough rest. It doesn’t seem to be limited to those in college, those with newborns, those in the midst of menopause, or those in retirement years. I rarely open a magazine without some mention of an aspect of this issue or a proposed solution.

 

Last night was a good night because I think I slept fairly well. How do I know? My fitness tracker told me. It also told me that I was awake twice and how many hours and minutes were light sleep versus sound sleep. (Yes, I use one of those…for multiple reasons.)

 

If I start looking at options and solutions for times when I cannot sleep well or get rest, I see a lot of excellent recommendations. They are all largely good and work with varying degrees of success (if not consistently), but tracking and making a list of all the tips and ideas becomes stressful in and of itself. I can get so committed to the list that I take over instead of trusting God.

 

 It seems that each of us is on this elusive quest for rest.

 

One of the evidences is how much we look forward to the weekends or the next vacation. We try to hang on until then. I’ve been there too!

 

I can recall one vacation in particular when we were headed for one of our favorite places in Alberta, Canada. The first night we were there I slept for eleven hours because I was so exhausted. I think the second night was not nearly as long, but more than eight hours.

 

It can be far too easy to arrive at a weekend or vacation and need to sleep or rest in order to be able to enjoy the time away from the routine working demands of most weeks. We also discover that too often sleep doesn’t really refresh us when we get it.

 

I think I have too often missed it.

 

I have been looking for things outside of me to provide the deep rest that I need inside of me.

 

Whatever stage or season we are in, each of us has our list of things that “must” be done, those that “need to be done”, those that “ought to be done” and finally those we “hope to get around to”.

 

Sadly, we bring a great deal of that into our spiritual lives and church community as well.

 

We miss it! We can get so involved in “God projects” that we fail to notice God right in front of us or experience Him in ways that point us to true rest.

 

Somehow in all areas of our lives we have started to assume that busier is better, especially if we are busy for Him. We have gotten the idea that the busier we are for Him, the more devoted we are (or at least appear to be). We seem to equate loving Him with doing more and more for Him. It matters not how much we have done in the past, we feel like we need to do more and we often get that subtle or not so subtle message when we arrive at church as well.

 

Our elusive quest for rest takes us into the twin quest for balance in our life.

 

What changes over time in our lives?

 

Childhood seems to provide the best sleep and rest of any season of life even if it is resisted at certain points.

 

I can certainly think of a lot of things that are different about childhood versus adulthood that affects the quality and quantity of sleep and rest, but if I examine this closely I see that many times (perhaps much of the time) in adulthood I take over instead of trusting God.

 

I know that sounds bad. I am not suggesting I don’t trust Him in the broad scheme of things, but do I come into each day and crawl into bed each night trusting as a child does that I will be taken care of, leaving everything in His hands, turning off the thoughts running over in my mind?

 

I think we have a much harder time with that despite Jesus’ words that we are to come to Him as a child. That certainly involves faith, but trust is a major part of it.

 

It’s interesting that over and over again Christ invites us to rest, lay aside our weariness, and simply rest. He also says that we “find” rest.

 

Where are we looking?

 

I have been reading a book about rest that has challenged my thinking and perception about rest, where I find it, and how I live in it.

 

The author writes these words challenging me to adjust my perspective:

 

“Rest is not an inner state that can be produced by thinking a certain way or placing ourselves in the right conditions. It is obtained only by entering into a relationship. When we find Christ, we find rest.”        From The Radical Pursuit of Rest by John Koessler