Pillow Problems

1. The persevering side of rest. Hebrews 4:11 tells us to “make every effort to enter that rest.” In context, the writer of Hebrews is speaking of our eternal rest and how, as Christians, we must guard against sinful & unbelieving hearts that sabotage the spiritual rest and sense of eternal hope Jesus came to give us. How many of you know, it takes effort to guard our hearts, to guard our rest, in this culture we live in today? We must make an effort to draw close to the Lord in order to keep our hearts from becoming hardened by the culture around us. But this principle is also true in the sense that you have to be intentional to rest in this day and time at all, period. Americans have never been so consumed with both their careers and their technology and these two things combined have made it difficult to find margin and rest. Sometimes it takes a little work to rest—turning off the tv and going to bed, getting off of facebook and electronics an hour before you go to sleep, waking up early so you can fall to sleep faster at night, saying “no” to things that are just too much to handle right now—all of these things require effort on our part. It may seem counter intuitive to think of “effort” and “rest” in the same sentence. But rest is a spiritual discipline and just like any other discipline, it requires some effort on our part. 

• The practical side of rest. Sometimes we forget that rest is one of the ten commandments. Exodus 20:8-10 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work… There is overwhelming research about the benefit of a day off and it’s affect on producing a healthy culture in both the corporate and individual world. Now the question is, what does a Sabbath day look like in this day and time? For example, if I don’t work on Saturdays but my day is consumed with kid activities and cleaning the house, is that really a day off? For some, yes. For others, debatable. I’m one of those who rest through activity. It’s kind of hard for me to sit through an entire football game or spend a few hours doing nothing. I like to do what I call, “productive piddling.” Washing my truck. Organizing my garage. Light yard work. Those activities refresh me. So what does rest look like for you? Yes, going to church and honoring the Lord must be a part of our Sabbath discipline. But what other practical things can you do, or not do, to rest?

• The perspective side of rest. Matthew 6:22 says the eyes are the lamp of the body. If you follow this blog, you know I’ve written about perspective quite a bit. But let me say it again, embracing a Biblical perspective releases peace into our lives. We would all do well to keep the following prayer before us, “Lord, help me to see (this) the way you do!” Seeing our circumstances through HIS eyes goes a long way towards walking in peace. In fact, some of the greatest breakthroughs I’ve seen in other people, or in myself for that matter, have come when God has pulled the curtain back on my circumstances and revealed His perspective on the matter at hand. This is a work of His grace that produces major growth, and peace, in our lives. 

• The peace side of rest. But what about those circumstances in life where it still seems so hard—even if you have the most Biblical perspective possible? What about having peace as you are in the season of waiting on the Lord for something your heart longs for? Philippians 4:6-7 says, Do not be anxious about anything. Pray about everything. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. There is a supernatural peace produced by His presence alone that far surpasses our circumstances. And this peace guards our hearts—guards our peace In other words,
• There is a peace available even if you are having a hard time gaining perspective.
• There is a peace available even when the prayer has yet to be answered.
• There is a peace available even before the promise of God is manifested.
• There is peace available before I know how it is going to work out.