School is out for summer and for many, summer is the season for family vacations, and slowing the pace of life down. \u00a0As a kid, I loved my annual two month sabbatical. \u00a0My summers were filled with epic bike rides, camping, exploring the forests and orchard, building forts and pear fights with my buddies. \u00a0Days were filled with building homemade push carts, baseball games, and swimming. \u00a0There was rarely a shortage of things to do and yet in spite of all the busyness, I found it refreshing and restful!<\/p>\n
I am older now with all the realities of adult life, and I have learned that work and activity can be a real gift from God (as can times of restful inactivity). However, I am learning how to rest, how to Sabbath even in the busyness that is often my life now. \u00a0Work can be very satisfying when we can be creative, can contribute to something worthwhile, and can provide for our family, but sometimes life can take on a sense of toil. \u00a0Toil for me is unceasing work that produces very little satisfaction or lacks purpose or meaning. \u00a0When we speak of our faith life, toil is when we find ourselves working like mad to earn something we already have - in Jesus.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.\" - Dallas Willard<\/strong><\/p>\n For many, we can find ourselves on the hamster wheel of religious obligation trying subtly and not so subtly, to earn Gods love and favor. When we do spiritual activities in an effort to get God to do something for us, to appease or be more acceptable to God, it can produce an insidious kind of toil that can drain the energy, joy and peace from all of life.<\/p>\n A number of years ago, I was feeling fairly burnt out from an unrelenting ministry schedule and the tyranny of religious obligation. \u00a0During my quiet time I was praying with the scripture from Matthew 11:30, where Jesus says that His yoke is easy, and his burden is light. \u00a0As I meditated upon this piece of scripture, \u00a0I imagined that I was walking with Jesus. \u00a0As we walked I was whining to Jesus about how the burden wasn't so light, and the yoke wasn't easy. \u00a0 In my prayerful imagination, I saw Jesus stop and look at me with a compassionate smile on His face. He said, \"Michael, do want to know what my easy yoke and light burden is?\" \u00a0And with that He simply put His arm around my shoulder, and we continued to walk together. \u00a0 The yoke and burden was not religious toil but simply walking with Him in relationship. \u00a0This brought great relief and helped me see work, ministry and life in a new way.<\/p>\n During the Exodus (33:14), \u00a0the people were encouraged to rest because God was going with them. \u00a0The Father presence was the source of their rest in the midst of an often difficult journey. The rest we have in Christ is in our reconciled relationship with our loving God and the promise of His abiding presence in all of \u00a0life. \u00a0Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mt.12:8) and in Him we can rest because there is nothing left to toil after. \u00a0In Jesus, it is finished! \u00a0Genuine Sabbath is not observing a specific day, or even the absence of work or activity. Sabbath flows from the experience of knowing that we are loved. \u00a0When all our labors find their source in the source of divine love Himself, we can experience Sabbath even in our work and busyness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"School is out for summer and for many, summer is the season for family vacations, and slowing the pace of life down. \u00a0As a kid, I loved my annual two month sabbatical. \u00a0My summers were filled with epic bike rides, camping, exploring the forests and orchard, building forts and pear fights with my buddies. \u00a0Days were filled with building homemade Continue Reading<\/a>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[33,34],"tags":[58,81,129,167,586,179,221,585],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n