Liturgy for Life : WK 2 - TUE
Promised Rest
Hebrews 4:1-2
God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.
This passage may be familiar to you if you have been on the study guide journey with us last series as we looked at the better promises found in Hebrews. It is a beautiful section where the author reminds us that there is a full promised rest that we can experience today! It is a rest that is directly tied to our relationship to God, and our listening to the voice of Jesus. It is good news, gospel, but comes with a serious tone. The author begs us to pay attention, because apparently it is easy to miss the promise of rest. The promise is there for any of us to grab on to, but some of us fail to experience it.
The hebrews who receive this letter fail to find rest because they put their faith in things that are incomplete. They celebrate that they are God’s holy people who are living in the promised land of milk and honey, a place of promised rest, milk, and honey. But when they look around there is strife, busyness, conflict, and pain. Being in a holy land wasn’t enough. They also make all these sub-rules to make sure they are following the commandment on Sabbath we looked at yesterday. What was supposed to be a day of rest became a day of tedious, tiring checkboxes. If that is all the people have to lean on, then the author of Hebrews says they are at risk of missing out on a real and full rest.
Finding rest can be physical, like taking a nap or a nice bath. It can be a mental rest, like putting away your phone and distractions for a set amount of hours. The practice of stop can be emotional, by spending quality time with people who soothe and mend our hearts. True rest is always holistic, which means all the things we just said are temporary solutions. We must have these disciplines alongside the main and most important discipline: listening to God as a form of rest. It is only by taking time to put faith in the creator of rest, that we are able to truly experience it. The good news is that we can take time with Jesus today.
Hebrews 4:1-2
God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.
This passage may be familiar to you if you have been on the study guide journey with us last series as we looked at the better promises found in Hebrews. It is a beautiful section where the author reminds us that there is a full promised rest that we can experience today! It is a rest that is directly tied to our relationship to God, and our listening to the voice of Jesus. It is good news, gospel, but comes with a serious tone. The author begs us to pay attention, because apparently it is easy to miss the promise of rest. The promise is there for any of us to grab on to, but some of us fail to experience it.
The hebrews who receive this letter fail to find rest because they put their faith in things that are incomplete. They celebrate that they are God’s holy people who are living in the promised land of milk and honey, a place of promised rest, milk, and honey. But when they look around there is strife, busyness, conflict, and pain. Being in a holy land wasn’t enough. They also make all these sub-rules to make sure they are following the commandment on Sabbath we looked at yesterday. What was supposed to be a day of rest became a day of tedious, tiring checkboxes. If that is all the people have to lean on, then the author of Hebrews says they are at risk of missing out on a real and full rest.
Finding rest can be physical, like taking a nap or a nice bath. It can be a mental rest, like putting away your phone and distractions for a set amount of hours. The practice of stop can be emotional, by spending quality time with people who soothe and mend our hearts. True rest is always holistic, which means all the things we just said are temporary solutions. We must have these disciplines alongside the main and most important discipline: listening to God as a form of rest. It is only by taking time to put faith in the creator of rest, that we are able to truly experience it. The good news is that we can take time with Jesus today.
- Find some time today or this week to put your phone away, find a comfortable spot, make sure it’s quiet, and dedicate the time to listening to God. You don’t have to speak. Allow your heart and mind to slow, and then listen.
- How can you move away from quick fixes to escape busyness and into a full practice of rest?
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