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 Would you agree that stress in life is on the increase, and our ability to cope is less effective? Madison Avenue tells us we are hit with 10,000 "buy-buy-buy" messages daily. These messages are repeated hourly, but the media is only partially responsible for our increasingly high stress levels. We ourselves are largely to blame for sleeping less and worrying more.
I consider myself fortunate to get 7 hours of sleep, when five or six years ago the suggested norm was 8 hours. Have we shortchanged ourselves to accept less? The truth is that if we sleep 8 hours we will be more mentally alert and more productive. Is our society imploding? Or, is our life out of balance? How is your Rest?
I think that if we give God the lordship of our spiritual lives, shouldn’t we also give Him leadership over the mundane details of our business life? I see Jesus wanting to be involved in these details so that he is Lord over the whole of our life. When things seemingly go wrong we don’t have to worry. He’s walking beside us and knows the path we take.
I am reading the fourth chapter of Hebrews, where the subject is God’s Rest. I slowed down to examine this word more closely, and found that God rested from his work after the 6th day of creation, and we too shall Rest when our journey is complete. We get to this state of Rest when we trust Him and do things His way. When we do things our own way, life gets out of balance and worry comes calling. In the 12th verse, God speaks to me in a compelling manner: He breaks down my defenses, and goes directly to my inner soul in a most loving manner. I have no response but to take him seriously, and am encouraged to ask confidently for help at the time of need.
I take Him seriously because He experienced weakness, temptation, and even death. He knows how I feel when I’m low since he has experienced lows and temptations, yet without sin. I can trust him implicitly because he’s "Been there, done that." The most amazing thing happens when I approach God with confidence: I find myself more at Rest than I’ve ever thought possible. This kind of Rest is not a place of relaxing but is an active trust. The Story of Rest is that I can take things at a slower pace, and be thankful for life at it’s best.
A friend of Jesus,
Gary Kallio
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