Achieving Your Trophy Through Rest And Coffee
Hebrews 4:10 CSB – For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from His.
When was the last time you received an award or trophy? Could it be you make the best cup of coffee in the neighborhood? Did you play a sport and performed with amazing talent? Were you the lead in sales for your company? Maybe you received a handmade certificate from your young daughter for being the best Mommy or Daddy? It could be you don’t recall any sort of honor given to you to date. Well, I am here to tell you that we have all been bestowed the trophy of BUSYNESS.
Busyness has become a badge of honor for our current culture. Ask anyone how their day went, and they will comment back, “Oh, it was so busy”. As a Christian, this culture of busyness is portrayed in our lives in such a way that shows the world we are trying to be the god of our lives rather than relying on the actual God of our lives. God rested. Jesus rested. The Bible gives several examples of this. In fact, God set up rest, or Sabbath, for us in Genesis when He rested after all of His work on creation. In His image, we are to rest as well. But we have become chronically busy people because we are being discipled by the present-day culture. The truth is, we are not even productive in all our busyness, we just seem to need to be doing something every minute of every day, yet this is not following what God asks us to do which is to rest from our work. Our children do it too. We have modeled this busyness so that our children believe they must always be doing something, scrolling something. Sitting has become foreign to them as well.
The Lord gave us the Sabbath as a gift for our whole self – body, mind, and soul. This is the same rest Jesus took when He needed time to be away from the busyness of His life. To think that we can work 7 days a week, or be doing something all day, every day falls outside of God’s culture. We are called to have a true rest in God – physical rest, spiritual rest, eternal rest. This rest is us mirroring God and taking advantage of the rest He has asked us to join Him in.
When you take a look at your life, are you following what you profess to be true – The Word of God? When people look at your life do they see you living the Word of God or is it just talk? Are you living like you are resting in the Sabbath or just “acting” like you believe the Word?
It takes true faith to consider the Sabbath. This faith is played out in your life not simply by taking the seventh day off to attend church, but by living out rest during your everyday, waking, breathing, walking, life. God desires to be with you during this time. He desires to have authentic prayer time, study time, quiet time. He longs to see your face looking at Him rather than a phone screen, or the TV. He yearns for your children to see Him during their quiet time, becoming children who will grow and imitate Him rather than society.
We need to begin to be intentional about setting up the way our life looks. God was intentional about setting up rest. Jesus was intentional about spending time with His father. What are you intentionally putting into your life that will bring honor to your Father and show your faith in Him? This rest will look different for everyone; there is no hard and fast rule on what it looks like. And it might prove to be difficult at first. For the family with children, it may have to include them in evening prayer and scripture reading. For the retired person, it could be a morning routine and study. It may have to happen at different times each day because setting aside one time might not work for everyone. God is inviting you into this time and will be there with you when it happens for you, but the intentionality of it is the faith you are showing to our great God. The routine of your life is designed by you, and you get the results of that routine.
Rest works when you put limits into place. Use your rest time to prepare yourself before the frenzy of each day comes. We need to be settled for the traffic, work, family in order to mirror Christ. Do not let the world influence you to the point you reflect it, yet reflect habits of rest and being different as Christ asks us to do. Creating this time will award us a trophy in Christ through our rest.
Now make that famous cup of coffee and get started resting.
Prayer
Lord, Your love for me is so great. I am honored to be asked to sit in Your presence and rest. Help me to be diligent in creating opportunity to rest with You and to have it be a meaningful time. Thank You for creating something so important for my physical and spiritual growth.
Today’s Challenge:
Take a look at your calendar or schedule and determine where you have small bits of time to spend with God even if it is only 10 mins. Choose a scripture verse to meditate or determine a prayer you could share with God during this time. Be intentional about it even if you must set a timer. Be careful not to participate in this time just to check it off your list, use it for a meaningful moment with Christ.
If you have children, intentionally set a time with them to turn off electronic devises and talk to them about their day and God. Being deliberate about this time will show them slowing down is important.
Start small and choose an activity that best suits you. Consider prayer, worship or study. Once you get into the routine you will miss this time when it doesn’t happen.
*** Visit the website below for more ideas on how to develop a routine of rest with Christ.