E-votional

Working on Resting
Hebrews 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest,

What is the enemy saying to you about rest? As we enter the week with Sabbath Rest on our minds, be aware of what the enemy is telling you about how to get there.

When I first heard about Sabbath Rest, I was amazed. I said “Yes, God. That is it! That is what I am looking for. That is where I want to be.” But then the enemy stepped in with the simple question “What do I need to do to get there?” It was a subtle lie and it made common sense that if rest was a “place,” I would need to get there somehow. I bought it hook, line and sinker and I basically told God to sit back and watch me go. Sabbath rest here I come!

A few weeks later, frustrated, sick of jumping hoops and tired from staying up later to get a few extra minutes of Bible study; I stopped. I literally sat down and said “God, I don’t understand. What is this rest?” His simple truth that freed me from the darkness, “Why would I make you work to rest?” I laughed out loud when I realized the irony of trying my hardest to enter rest. The very nature of rest is ceasing our own works (Heb 4:10). It was a classic Galatians 3 scenario. What I had started in the Spirit I was trying to perfect in the flesh.

As God gives us opportunity this week to live in rest, please do not let the enemy set you on the wrong road. Don’t buy the lie that you need to work to get there. Rather, proclaim the truth of Hebrews 4:3, “for those of us who have believed enter that rest.” Be “diligent,” not in action but in attitude, belief, and zealousness that you are already there. Sabbath rest remains not for us to find but for us to realize that we are in (Eph 1:3, 2 Pet 1:3). It remains for us to live and experience. It remains for Galatians 2:20 to be walked out, where we no longer live but we let Christ live through us. That is Sabbath Rest.