Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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.
Matthew 11:28-30
I think we should hear these words in much the same way that God intended for the Israelites to hear His teaching regarding the Sabbath: less as a command, more as an invitation. Remember, God originally gave Sabbath rest as a gift to a people who had recently been liberated from the bondage of slavery. And so we see Jesus standing before us, offering us the key to our freedom. We no longer need to be slaves to our schedules, slaves to hurry and busyness and the myth of self-importance. Instead, we can find what our hearts have always been longing for: …and you will find rest for your souls.
Are you tired?
Are you tired of being tired?
Are you tired of living a distracted life?
Are you tired of being consumed by worry?
Are you tired of being a workaholic?
Are you tired of being emotionally numb?
Maybe the anxiety you’re feeling is your soul trying to tell you that something is wrong.
But what if you slowed down and instead, you decided to go home?
What if you turned to the one who promises more than the false happiness of busyness and self-importance?
What if you turned to the one who promises the true happiness of eternal rest for your soul?
So hear again His words to restless hearts like yours and mine: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. You will find rest for your souls.
In the name of Jesus Christ, the Sovereign Lord who makes all things new, he who has ears, let him hear.
Augustine lived over 1,600 years ago and was one of the most important voices in the history of the church. He was a deep thinker, a prolific writer, and a passionate preacher. One of his most enduring lines gets at the heart of the human condition:
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
I think Augustine would see all of our busyness as further indication of our restless hearts and our deep desire to rest in God.
The Hebrew writer certainly understands the importance of this kind of rest.
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
Hebrews 4:9-11
There is an “already and not yet” element to the way the Hebrew writer talks about rest. Surely part of this rest is future-oriented, the ultimate rest that will be ours in eternity. It seems clear that the Hebrew writer is pointing us to never lose sight of that eternal rest that is promised to us through faith. But I think he’s also saying that this eternal rest can be experienced right now, in the present moment, because the model of this heavenly rest is the very earthly experience of Sabbath rest.
The first time the word “Sabbath” occurs in the Bible is after the children of Israel had been set free from the yoke of slavery in Egypt. While they were slaves, Pharaoh conscripted the Israelites to hard labor seven days a week. But God comes along and says, “No, you weren’t made for this. You are to set aside a day for rest and worship and reflection. This is good.” And the Hebrew writer sees in this a promise of an eternal rest.
And this is the point: the rest promised to us in eternity actually helps us find a bit of rest in the present. Since I know God has an eternal rest in store for His people, I don’t have to live so frantically in the present as if everything was dependent upon me. The promise of rest SOMEDAY actually helps me rest TODAY. The Hebrew writer even acknowledges that the believer enters into God’s rest right now.
For we who have believed enter that rest…
Hebrews 4:3
There is a rest the believer experiences in the present. And this is where God wants to meet us today — in the rest that comes through trusting in His promises.
A few years ago, a mentor of mine said, “I don’t think you leave very much margin for God.” He said, “You’re always really busy, running here and there doing this and that. But I never hear you talk about leaving time in your day to be with God.” And he was right. At that time in my life, I wore my busyness like a badge of honor. Being busy made me feel important. But I was so busy — often times doing things for God — that I left almost no time in my schedule to simply be with God. I was focused on a lot of other responsibilities — important things, mind you — but I was neglecting what was supposed to be most important.
Since that time, I’ve become a big believer in what my mentor refers to as “margin” — leaving space for God, as crazy as that sounds. Somedays, I have to build in 30 minutes in my schedule to simply read my Bible because I’m not disciplined enough to do this any other way. And I’m not talking about reading for sermon or class prep, but simply because I need to hear from the Lord. Other days, it’s something as simple as setting a timer on my phone and giving God sixty seconds of silent prayer right in the middle of my hectic day. Intentionally slowing down has been a life-giving practice for me over the last few years. From time to time, I still feel the temptation to default back into that busy, frenetic pace and the feeling of self-importance it produces. But that seems to happen less and less these days because my time with God has come to mean so much to me.
What if your spiritual health was directly correlated to the amount of time you devoted to it? We know this holds true for our physical health. If you’re going to be physically healthy, you’re going to have to devote some time to it. You’re going to have to build in extra time in your day to prepare healthy foods rather than grabbing something quick and easy and processed. You’re going to have to make time to take a walk or go to the gym or do some push-ups. There is a correlation between your physical health and the amount of time you devote to it.
My question for you is this: what if the same thing holds true for our spiritual lives?
Believe it or not, our busyness is one of the great threats to our spiritual lives.
In his book Soul Keeping, John Ortberg tells of a time when he was weary and frazzled and exhausted. His ministry was expanding, his writing career was taking off but Ortberg was miserable. He could feel himself drying up spiritually. So Ortberg reached out to one of his mentors, Dr. Dallas Willard. Willard was a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California, but he is best known as a Christian thinker and author. Ortberg calls Willard and asks, “What do I need to do to become spiritually healthy?”
There’s a long silence on the other end of the line. Ortberg says that with Willard, there’s always a long silence on the other end of the line.
After giving the question some thought, Willard said, “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”
Ortberg said, “Okay. Got it. What else?”
And his mentor replied, “There is nothing else. Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”
The great enemy of spiritual life in our day is…hurry?
Just because a Ph.D. says something doesn’t make it true. But what do you think? Is there some truth to this?
If I were asked to name the great enemies of spiritual life today, “busyness” probably wouldn’t be the first thing that comes to mind. I’d probably say something like secular humanism — the prevailing myth that we are capable of achieving our own salvation if we simply look within — or legalism — the religious myth that God’s grace is insufficient — or internet pornography or our phones or a number of other things before I ever got around to adding “busyness” to my list.
But the more I think about it, the more I think Willard is actually right. And the fact that busyness wouldn’t make our initial list might just be an indication of how subtly our enemy operates to wreak havoc in our lives.
I like the way the author John Mark Comer puts it:
Today you’re far more likely to run into the enemy in the form of an alert on your phone while you’re reading your Bible or a multi-day Netflix binge or a full-on dopamine addiction to Instagram or a Saturday morning at the office or another soccer game on a Sunday or commitment after commitment after commitment in a life of speed.
Let’s ask ourselves: what are we really seeking when we pack our calendars with event after event? A life of importance? Significance in the eyes of others? An Insta-worthy experience? And how is that working out for us? It seems that the hurried life is actually the worried life. All our frantic busyness doesn’t seem to be making us any happier or healthier or more spiritually mature. If you ask me, all our rushing about is simply a cover for the deep restlessness that grips our hearts.
I was talking to a good friend recently and he was telling me that he’s completely exhausted right now. He said he feels like he needs to hit the “force quit” button in his life — he needs to turn off all the applications and just be still for a bit. And I think so many of us can relate to that sentiment.
But we’re not just physically exhausted. Our physical weakness points to something even deeper: our heavy-laden soul’s cry for rest.
Last week I began a series entitled Lessons Learned. 2020 has been such a difficult year in so many respects, but there have also been plenty of lesson-learning opportunities along the way as well. Last week we looked at the importance of being grateful; this week, we move on to another lesson — the importance of slowing down.
Many of us were forced to slow down back in the spring during the COVID-related lockdowns across the country. Of course, we acknowledge that there were plenty of frontline workers who never slowed down: police officers, first responders, nurses, doctors, hospital employees…and we are so thankful for the ways they have tirelessly continued to serve our communities. But for many of us who do not work in those fields, that time of lockdown was both unexpected and unwanted.
And yet, for many of us, lockdown was a reminder to slow down. I’ve heard from many people — members of my church, close friends, family members — who mentioned that the quarantine exposed a sense of busyness and a pace of life that had become simply unsustainable. It gave most of us a little more quiet time, more time at home, and more time with our loved ones, all of which were unexpected blessings.
2020 forced many of us to slow down and rest.
These ideas are deeply embedded in the Bible, going all the way back to the creation story.
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
Genesis 2:2-3
There is something blessed — even holy — about the way “rest” is discussed in God’s Word. In the second chapter of the Bible, God takes a break from all His creative work. The Creator of time takes time to rest, to sit back and enjoy His good creation. God willfully disengages from work, saying, “That’s enough. This is good. I’m finished.” And He willfully engages in rest.
What do we do with this image of a God who takes time to rest?
Well, I’m not sure we do much at all with that image. It seems to me that we don’t take it as much of an example to be followed — despite the fact that just a few verses earlier, we’re told that we are made in the very image and likeness of God. No, American life tends to operate at a pace that even God doesn’t keep. We run ourselves ragged as we rush from activity to activity. Our culture typically idolizes work and productivity and 24/7 busyness.
And yet, deep down we know that something is off.
That we weren’t made to keep up this pace.
That we need rest.
Children’s Hospital of Atlanta recently received an incredible donation from Arthur Blank. Blank is the co-founder of Home Depot and the owner of the Atlanta Falcons. Over the years, he’s made several contributions to Children’s Hospital — but this most recent one was the largest in the hospital’s history. Through his charitable foundation, Blank donated $200 million toward the construction of a new 1.5 million-square-foot pediatric hospital — which will be named the Arthur M. Blank Hospital. Construction has already begun and the hospital is set to open in 2025.
In conjunction with this generous donation, Children’s Hospital will be gifting each of it’s 11,000 employees with an additional 40 hours of PTO — paid time off — to go along with a standard cost-of-living raise for next year. Blank’s generosity freed up the hospital to recognize the exhaustion of not only their physicians and doctors, but also patient care technicians and employees working in food services, environmental services, and transportation. The hospital’s Chief Administrative Officer says, “The COVID-19 pandemic put a lot of strain on our employees, both financially and emotionally.” The PTO gift is an effort to encourage the Children’s staff to slow down and find some much needed rest.
This is what we do with the image of a God who takes time to rest.
Luke tells of a time when Jesus heals ten people of their leprosy. This was an astonishing feat and in first-century Jewish culture, this would have been a clear indication that Jesus was the promised Messiah. But after the healing, only one person comes back to express his gratitude to Jesus.
Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
Luke 17:16-16
One person comes to express his gratitude to Jesus — and Luke adds an interesting little detail: he was a Samaritan! To the Jewish way of thinking, this meant he was not to be considered a true son of Abraham but something of an outsider. And yet, he’s the one who returns to give thanks.
Greek scholars note that the language Luke uses here is only used in reference to God the Father throughout the rest of the NT. So Luke’s point is clear: this healed man recognizes Jesus in the same light, as the source of his blessing. Luke is winking at us and says, “By thanking Jesus, this outsider is recognizing Him as God-in-the-flesh.” The Samaritan not only has better manners than the rest but also better theology. He’s learned the most important lesson. He cannot help but thank Jesus for this great blessing!
The practice of gratitude implies that we have someone to thank — that we know the source of our blessing. Secular psychology often extols a generic kind of thankfulness which has become quite commonplace in our culture today — this notion of being grateful “to the universe” for all that you have, which is really a bunch of hippie pagan nonsense. But the biblical story is such a gift to us because it lets us know who to thank for our blessings.
I read about one individual who has a unique answer to the question, “How are you?” Whereas most people reply with a reflexive, “I’m fine. How are you?” her response is both unexpected and intentional. When asked, she replies, “I am grateful.” She chooses those words to make a point: that gratitude is not simply a response to our good fortune but, more importantly, it is a choice we make. In all circumstances, we can choose to give thanks.
What if we started answering the same way every time someone asked, “How are you?” What if we responded by saying, “I am grateful,” — do you think this simple act could help alleviate our anxiety? Could that be a simple way to be faithful to the Lord’s command to give thanks in all circumstances?
More than anything, I hope 2020 has reminded us to be thankful for the enduring promises of God. So much has changed this year, but here’s what hasn’t changed:
God’s love hasn’t changed
God’s faithfulness hasn’t changed
And God’s promises have not changed — what Simon Peter calls the precious and magnificent promises of God.
When you look at it that way, we have plenty of reasons to give thanks.
The word “anxiety” is derived from another word meaning “to choke” or “to cause pain by squeezing.” One of the Greek words for anxiety was used to describe the yokes that would be put on the necks of slaves in the ancient world. The Hebrew word associated with anxiety is often translated as “narrow space.” So these ideas help us understand how anxiety works in our lives:
Chronic anxiety can choke the life out of us. It can feel like something heavy sitting on your chest.
Chronic anxiety will enslave us. It gives a sense of claustrophobia, of being in a “narrow space.”
And chronic anxiety leads to catastrophizing, which is when we allow our minds to be controlled by “what-if” worst-case-scenario thinking.
And often times our anxiety is compounded by shame. We find ourselves feeling anxious about something and then we’ll immediately feel ashamed for our anxiety. We’ll tell ourselves that we ought to pull ourselves together. We’ll talk down to ourselves, saying, “If I was a better Christian, I wouldn’t be worrying about this.” And so we have all this anxiety on our plate and then we add a big side dish of shame — which, of course, produces even more anxiety. And then we’re caught in this destructive loop.
If you can relate to that, I just want you to know that you’re not alone. For starters, if the anxiety numbers have TRIPLED in the last few months (as we noted in the last post), then we most certainly shouldn’t feel alone. We’re all feeling the strain of the last few months right now. But we should also acknowledge the foolishness of spiritual self-deprecation. There’s just no room for that right now.
It really helped de-stigmatize all of this for me when I realized that experiencing anxiety doesn’t somehow make me “less spiritual” or a “lesser Christian.” It simply puts me in the company of someone like the Apostle Paul.
If you read 2 Corinthians, you’ll see that Paul had to deal with plenty of anxiety and stress in his life. He says in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 that he and his missionary companions were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. Paul says he was in this dark place where his burdens had surpassed his strength and despair had set in. That probably sounds really familiar to some of us. Paul is in that “narrow space” of anxiety where stress threatens to press in. So Paul is a trustworthy guide for us because he knows what it’s like to be anxious.
This is why we should listen to him when he says, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God (Phil. 4:6). Paul has learned that prayerful gratitude helps us forge a way out of our anxieties. If anxiety is that claustrophobic, narrow feeling, gratitude pushes those anxieties back a bit. I like the way the author Robert Morgan states it: “Gratitude is to worry what antibiotics are to an infection.”
Paul has learned that there is tremendous healing power in thankfulness. That’s why he can say, Give thanks in all circumstances.
Perhaps now more than ever we need a season of thanksgiving to help us overcome our anxieties.
Gratitude is an important discipleship practice. And it is just that — a practice. Just like you’ll never learn to play the guitar without regular practice, we’ll never become the kind of people God will us to be — people of gratitude — without some regular routines of thanksgiving. That’s what makes this week such an important touchpoint.
The more I practice biblical gratitude, the more God forms me into the person He wants me to become. That’s why, for the Christian, thanksgiving is appropriate in any season — because God will always use gratitude for my spiritual development. So again, we hear His command: give thanks in all circumstances.
And this is important for us to remember — especially in light of the events of the last few months. The isolation and stress of this year has taken a toll on our mental health. New research indicates that anxiety rates have TRIPLED in the United States since the coronavirus restrictions were put in place this spring. We were already the most anxious nation in the world, but COVID has put all of this over the top. Just this week, I heard one counselor describe our situation as, “a mental health pandemic.” I wonder how many of us have felt an increase in our anxiety over the last few months, either stemming from concern over the coronavirus or the election or the economic impact of these shutdowns.
But God’s Word teaches us that gratitude works as a counter to worry. Amazon says that among Kindle readers, this is the most highlighted passage in the Bible:
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6
Embedded in this 2,000-year-old verse is timeless wisdom for the road we find ourselves journeying right now. God shows us that prayerful gratitude is one of the keys to overcoming anxiety.
In his letters to the church, Paul mentions thanksgiving and gratitude more than any other Christian practice. Just think about that for a minute. You’d think Paul would have more to say about worship or baptism or the Lord’s Supper or evangelism. But his teaching on those topics is usually concentrated to just a few places in his letters. But gratitude? Paul is ALWAYS talking about gratitude.
And this is important: I think Paul does this because he has learned that gratitude is a powerful weapon against anxiety and worry.
We’ve heard it hundreds of times: 2020 has been a difficult year in so many respects. The coronavirus has claimed the lives of over 250,000 Americans and has completely disrupted our way of life this year. I read a line from one psychologist who says we’re no longer going through a crisis. She says a crisis only lasts about six weeks. After that, the crisis situation becomes one of chronic stress. And that’s where many of us find ourselves today.
But as Winston Churchill famously said, you should never let a good crisis go to waste. As difficult as this year has been, I think we’ve also learned some invaluable lessons in 2020 — lessons that we’ll carry with us for the rest of our lives. I’ve recently been reflecting on some of these lessons, which has given rise to this blog series (and a corresponding sermon series) entitled: Lessons Learned: How Not to Waste a Pandemic.
One of the most enduring lessons we’ve learned during this pandemic: the importance of gratitude.
2020 has repeatedly taught us to be grateful for the things we once took for granted:
Eating out at our favorite restaurant
Going to the movies or to ball games
Hugging our brothers and sisters in church
These are simple things, but 2020 has taught us not to take the little things for granted — even something like being able to buy toilet paper at the store!
Many social media users participate in a monthlong celebration of gratitude in November. And that’s fitting, certainly in light of the Thanksgiving holiday coming up this week. But the Bible teaches the Christian to practice gratitude in each season of life.
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
This is a simple verse but a profound truth. According to the Bible, God wills for His people to be grateful in all circumstances. At first blush, this sounds odd, even unattainable the more we consider it. Does this mean we are to thank God for every thing that happens? Are we to pause and give thanks for every experience, no matter how mundane? And what of evil? Are we to be thankful each time our hearts are broken and our lives are shattered by the circumstances of life?
I don’t think that’s exactly the counsel we find here. If we attempted to thank God for every bit of minutiae in our lives, we’d never get around to doing anything else. Even more importantly, we’re never advised to rejoice in the wake of tragedy. For example, I live in the state of Alabama. We wouldn’t thank God that over 3,000 of our fellow Alabamians have died due to the coronavirus so far. That’s simply heartbreaking. But as we’ve noted, there are always lessons to be learned, even in the midst of heartache. And we can certainly give thanks for the lessons that draw us closer to God or cultivate a deeper understanding of His character.
Giving thanks in all circumstances is about maintaining a constant posture of gratitude and being open to the possibility that God can be present, even in the midst of the worst of circumstances.
We had a great time last night touring the Galaxy of Lights at our Huntsville Botanical Garden. This is one of our annual traditions. We normally drive through to see the lights; a time or two we’ve run the Galaxy of Lights 5K; and last night we walked through with some special friends. This is our favorite spot…so beautiful!
Super proud of this young lady, the newest member of the National Honor Society! She is extremely dedicated to her studies, always working hard to pursue her dreams. Abby Kate, you make us proud.
already & not yet 