Rest

Sometimes in life, you don't realize how tired you are until you rest.

This last week I decided to try to fast people, you know, not meet with people. It kind of worked out, but not fully...that's okay, it was still a great week! I had more alone time Jesus, more time in the Word, more time with the wife, more time with the kids, and more time in general.

I felt God asking me last week to pull away from people this week, which is hard for me to do as we live in a city where our home at times feels like a revolving door of people coming in & out all the time.

I realized too this week that I still have a problem saying "no" to people, which sucks! I thought I was farther along on this issue of being free from pleasing people...again, resting has a way of revealing stuff that when we are busy it's hard to see.

Jesus had something to say about pleasing people (ie. seeking the glory of man) in John 5, "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?" Ouch, man pleasing is a form of bondage, a hindrance to the glory of God, and extinguisher of our faith.

I discovered a little nugget in Scripture this week too...God worked 6 days and rested 1, which is really a blueprint for our lives; however, man was created on the 6th day, which means man's first day was a day of rest.

Life should flow out of rest!

Our 1st day on earth was a day of rest, not work. As believers, our rest is a Person, not a vacation to Hawaii...learning to live from rest, not striving, is something that brings God glory. I believe only when we come to the Giver of rest can we begin to experience the life He intended us to live that is free from a man pleasing & self-pleasing life.

You got to love the words of Jesus:

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."