Striving to rest (Part 2)

I gotta thank Keiyeng for getting me thinking more on this (thanks Keiyeng!).  And Jayne, I hope you read this: http://jeaninallhonesty.blogspot.com/2008/05/cj-mahaney-on-sleep.html.  This blog post might be helpful concerning the insomnia episodes you’ve been having!

Keiyeng raised lots of questions in my head (in a helpful way that is) and something a friend of mine said the other day also raised more, while answering some I had previously in my first post on this (and I wonder if perhaps he was addressing those very questions/thoughts I had while speaking to me!).  Anyway, he said that we can rest now, because the work has been done!  Jesus has done it by His saving work on the cross 2000 years ago and the work is finished.  And he’s right.  That is true!  It definitely got me thinking in a new light, specifically the value, then, that our ‘work’ now has.  If Jesus has said ‘it is finished’, then what kind of work is the work I do now?  What kind of rest is the rest I have now?  It was certainly a rebuke for me to think about ‘work’ in the right perspective.  The Christ, Jesus, ultimately has and does the work that needs to be done to achieve the rest that we so desperately need and were created to enjoy.

If I were drawing all these words in a diagram, I would put the above paragraph in the centre with a circle around it and label it ‘the cornerstone truth about rest’.  I think it certainly has far-reaching implications…somehow.  Initial thoughts, when reflecting on the great truth above:

My ‘efforts’ to serve God can be done with a great sense of completion already and of assurance of their outcome, for their outcome is in His hands, not mine!  Thanks be to God for that!

There is no ‘unfinished’ work to be done!  I can never not do the things that need doing!  (Does that make sense!?)  What a liberating and amazing thing!

I often get very emotionally tied up in relationships with people, and I can get very concerned/anxious, especially when a friend is struggling with something that seems to turn them away from the Lord, and I can start being overwhelmed by it and ‘take matters into my own hands’, forgetting that the Lord is the one who not only holds the whole world in the palm of His hand but has power over every man’s heart.  Both are breath-taking facts (though the first is obviously metaphorical) and it’s only by going back to the cross, where God revealed how He was going to complete the work He had set out to do since the beginning of the world, to restore the original rest He made, that we can fully appreciate rest now.  We can sleep soundly, enjoy a whole day at the park, just spend time reading, because we can be sure what needs to be done will be done (and in fact has been done already).

Hmmm…I don’t know whether I’ve answered any questions or just put up more thoughts, but will have to keep thinking and praying about this!  In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you think :)!