What is God's rest and how do we diligently enter it?
I've been reading through Hebrews and had listened to a Major Ian Thomas sermon about rest and obedience....totally rocked my world. Anyway, here are some thoughts on what my heat has been mediating on the past couple weeks......
If we believe by faith the Word which was given to us by God, then we have already entered His rest. Disbelief is actually disobeying God at His Word. We cannot enter the rest He offers if we do not believe by faith that He is. Being diligent to enter that rest comes by having an absolute readiness and predisposition to obey. It should be as quick and effortless as my mind willing my fingers to type this very thought. As my mind wills my hand to move, my hand responds with complete obedience to the command. Quick, without hesitation, or the slightest bit of resistance or rebellion.
Hebrews 5:8 says Jesus learned this kind of utter obedience through His sufferings. By His sufferings He was made perfect….therefore obedience leads to our perfection as well. Christ's obedience led Him to death on a cross in order that we might inherit salvation. How could we do anything other than obey the author of our eternal salvation, giving us the rest which we all so deeply desire? As Tozer exhorts "if Jesus has rended the veil, and we have nothing preventing us from entering God's presence (His rest), why do we tarry without?"
An interesting thought that we can by our very position in Christ (by what He has done and not us) have the ability to live in God's presence moment by moment, whether that is acknowledging that He is always here and with us, or recognizing His manifest presence when He blesses us with it. Living in God's presence, and entering His desired will for our lives...isn't this the rest He offers?
Complete obedience can and will lead us through sufferings and trials. We are partakers of His sufferings, and we endure through our own sufferings. But we are to rejoice in them, knowing through suffering our faith (belief) in God's word is tested, producing patience which leads to perfection (James 1). So we diligently enter His rest by enduring through trials, recognizing that He is here, remaining steadfastly obedient, and always always always believing Him at His Word.
My aim in life is to be: restfully available, and immediately obedient!
If we believe by faith the Word which was given to us by God, then we have already entered His rest. Disbelief is actually disobeying God at His Word. We cannot enter the rest He offers if we do not believe by faith that He is. Being diligent to enter that rest comes by having an absolute readiness and predisposition to obey. It should be as quick and effortless as my mind willing my fingers to type this very thought. As my mind wills my hand to move, my hand responds with complete obedience to the command. Quick, without hesitation, or the slightest bit of resistance or rebellion.
Hebrews 5:8 says Jesus learned this kind of utter obedience through His sufferings. By His sufferings He was made perfect….therefore obedience leads to our perfection as well. Christ's obedience led Him to death on a cross in order that we might inherit salvation. How could we do anything other than obey the author of our eternal salvation, giving us the rest which we all so deeply desire? As Tozer exhorts "if Jesus has rended the veil, and we have nothing preventing us from entering God's presence (His rest), why do we tarry without?"
An interesting thought that we can by our very position in Christ (by what He has done and not us) have the ability to live in God's presence moment by moment, whether that is acknowledging that He is always here and with us, or recognizing His manifest presence when He blesses us with it. Living in God's presence, and entering His desired will for our lives...isn't this the rest He offers?
Complete obedience can and will lead us through sufferings and trials. We are partakers of His sufferings, and we endure through our own sufferings. But we are to rejoice in them, knowing through suffering our faith (belief) in God's word is tested, producing patience which leads to perfection (James 1). So we diligently enter His rest by enduring through trials, recognizing that He is here, remaining steadfastly obedient, and always always always believing Him at His Word.
My aim in life is to be: restfully available, and immediately obedient!
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