Rest?

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested (literally - to cease from exertion) on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

It's Sunday morning. I am sitting at the kitchen table, listening to two different kinds of music. I have my favorite old hymn (Great is Thy Faithfulness) playing on the computer. The door to the deck is open and I can hear at least three different kinds of birds. I slept in this morning, not worried about the demanding voice of the alarm clock. In my place between sleep and wake, I sensed the presence of God caressing me. I made some coffee a little earlier and I am still enjoying what's left of it. I am resting. My heart feels full, full of gratefulness toward God, full of joy, full of life.

I wonder for how many people, this morning was restful. I wonder for how many was it stressful. I have four children and can understand the stress that families undergo on a Sunday morning. We want to rest but the alarm clock demands that we start the day. We push the snooze button for five more minutes of pillow time. Suddenly we realize that we better get out of bed and get going. Somehow that extra five minutes mysteriously cause us to be at least fifteen minutes behind schedule. We feel the first tentacles of stress beginning to squeeze us. We pick up the pace which in turn causes a bit of frustration with other family members who seem to not have the same sense of urgency. Our frustration spills out on them. Within minutes the frustration level in the household increases. And this is a day of rest!

I wonder how many of us really have a day of rest. If God needed to rest, then most certainly we do as well. Yet our perceptions of the demands of God frequently cause us to be stressed. We feel guilty if we are late for church. We feel even more guilty not attending a church service on a Sunday morning. I don't know what God did on the seventh day, but I highly doubt that He felt guilty for resting.

If your day of rest is causing more stress than a normal day, if you are motivated to perform certain expected actions on your day of rest, then something is wrong in your life. You are headed for a spiritual and physical train-wreck (I speak from experience!) My morning has been glorious. My mind is refreshed, my heart is alive. All because I ceased from exertion!

The power of obstacles

In our walk with God (and in life in general), people frequently attempt to avoid obstacles. Obstacles are perceived to be hindrances in fulfilling our God-given purpose. We lament the fact that they keep us from abundant life, from fulfilling our purpose. I often hear people talking about "if only..."

I believe that it is time to see obstacles in a different light. Instead of being the thing that hinders us, in reality obstacles are the avenue for the release of God's miracle working power. The next time you face what seems like an insurmountable challenge in your walk with God, I encourage you to see that challenge differently. Look from the historical perspective of the Bible.

The nation of Israel was trapped between the Red Sea and the wrath of Pharaoh and his Egyptian army. They faced certain destruction; it seemed as if following God had led them to this place of insurmountable obstacle. However, their situation was the catalyst for them to experience the power of God.

Jesus and His disciples spent the day with multitudes of people in the remote wilderness. With nothing to eat all day, the people grew hungry. There was no way to provide for their need. Once again the circumstances were ripe for the manifestation of the miraculous power of God.

History is filled with examples of people who embraced obstacles, instead of shrinking back from the impossibility of their circumstances, they pressed ahead. These are the history-makers, people who change the face of their generation. History is also filled with people, who when confronted with obstacles, chose to shrink away in fear. These are the people who have been largely irrelevant to the kingdom of God.

When one becomes possessed by his/her God-given dreams and boldly tackles obstacles, something transformational begins to occur. As obstacles are conquered, an authority, a "weightiness" begins to be evident in the individual. Conversely, when one shrinks from the inevitable obstacles that result from heeding the invitation of God, they become changed as well. Negativity, fear, and an unhealthy spirit of competition begins to define them.

I am convinced that the main difference between history-makers and irrelevant people is their attitude toward and their response to obstacles. The reason most of us never experience the miracle working power of God is that we have no need for it. We spend our life in "smallness" never needing God's power on our behalf.

Obstacles are the medium through which men and women are made. Obstacles are catalyst for the unleashing of the power of God. Embrace them...overcome them...be transformed!

A heart condition

For the past several years, there has been a great deal of debate in Christendom about the state of a person's heart. There are people who insist that the heart is evil and can quote scripture to prove their point. There are people who insist that God gives a new heart and therefore the heart is good and can be trusted (and they can quote scriptures to prove their point). The debate frequently erupts on some of the Internet forums that I read.

Recently I was reading some of the parables that Jesus taught. A familiar story about seed, about different kinds of soil, and the resulting interaction between the seed and the soil caught my eye. Jesus had told a story to the crowds of people following Him about a man who sowed the same kind of seed on different kinds of soil with different results. Later the disciples asked Him the meaning of the story. Here are the words of Jesus:

Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

As I was reading the words of Jesus, the last line leaped off the page. In order for the word of God (the seed) to bring forth fruit, it must be heard with a good and noble heart. Of course I had some immediate questions.

1. Since the seed (the logos, the word of God) finds fruitfulness only in a good and noble heart, are the people that insist the heart is wicked unable to receive the word of God in a way that results in fruitfulness?
2. Why/how does the devil have access to the heart of those who are compared to the wayside (or path)? Is their heart evil? Does that evil-ness allow access?
3. Do the first three soils correlate with the condition of a person's heart? Are these the people who insist that their heart is evil?

I don't profess to have the definitive answers to these questions. However, Jesus words seem to indicate that there is a correlation between the degree of fruitfulness of a person and the condition of their heart. In other words, if one does not have a good and noble heart, then it impossible to provide the incubator that brings the word to complete fruition.