The Effort of Rest part 3
Its hard to believe. Hard to believe that someone--ANYONE, much less God Himself--would be willing to die for us. I always thought that was a pretty noble thing when I thought about the Secret Service. Like, you KNOW your whole job is proving that someone else's life is worth more than yours. That's something not everybody can do. And that's for the President. The leader of our country. Somebody important. Let me say what I'm trying to say with Romans 5:7 (NLT), "Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good." In other words... its a big deal. Not something that is expected. Something special. Which makes the next verse even more mindblowing. "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners" (Romans 5:8 NLT). When we had nothing to offer God... He gave us everything. Everything He had. Everything He was (is). He finished the work that we could NOT finish. We tried to earn our bread by the sweat of our brows, but that wasn't the sacrifice God required. So Jesus sweated great drops of blood, redeeming us from that cursed dimension (and I always like to point out that God cursed the ground. Not the man). The point I'm trying to make is that the Effort of Rest is believing that we CAN rest. Believing that when we were at our worst, God still thought enough of us to give us His best. Not because He wanted anything FROM us, but simply because He loved us and wanted everything FOR us. He wanted the best for us. So He gave the best to us. He gave us His only begotten Son so that we might not perish but experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life as He lives it in us, and through us, and as us. And, again, He gave it to us because He wanted us to have it. We couldn't get it for ourselves, no matter how hard we tried. Under the religious law there is always one thing you lack. But look at Galatians 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Remember, Jesus died so we could die. And He rose again to life so we could live. Dead to sin (unbelief) and alive unto God (love). The Effort of Rest is believing that God loves you. Because when you know (and believe) the truth... it sets you free and makes you free. When you listen to the lie that the world is screaming in your face--that you have to do in order to be... that you're not good enough... that you have to earn every scrap and every shred--you end up running circles in that hamster wheel. Banging your head against the wall and only ending up with a headache. Trying to be someone you're not so you can get something you (think you) haven't got. And as exhausting, and futile, as that is... it "makes more sense" a lot of the time than listening to that still, small voice deep inside your heart that says, "I love you, I love you, I can't stop loving you. I can't do anything BUT love you. Because I am love. Because you are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!" That's the ultimate truth of the universe. That's the not too good to be true, but so good that it must be true Word of God. And faith comes from hearing that Word. What we see is what we be. What we hear is what we believe. See love. Be love. Hear love. Believe love!