Our efforts to impose rest on ourselves often fail. That’s because the problem is not one of having the right tools to get things done, avoid procrastination, etc. We can use these things, but it really starts with our hearts – and there is a problem in our hearts called sin – the consequence of our rebellion against God. Everything we do – work and rest, and the rhythm of Sabbath rest, takes on a selfish tinge as a result.
In the 4th Century a Christian leader named Augustine wrote, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.”
It’s hard work being separated from God. God said it would be – sin meant we would have to toil to overcome thorny ground and survive. But we can find our rest in God. In Jesus, we have access to that rest once again, even though we opted out in sin. Jesus did the ultimate work of closing the separation between us and God.
We can once again join him in building his kingdom, in his creative work. We do this using the gifts he’s given us to work to build a better society, life-giving technology, strong families, new infrastructure and so on. Whatever is consistent with his plan and purpose.
And we can also rest in him, knowing that it’s his work we help with, and not our work to force by our sheer act of will. We can find deep satisfaction in knowing God is God, and invites us to work with him, rather than against him or instead of him. This says it nicely:
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. (Hebrews 4:9-10 ESV)
It’s in knowing God is God, and we are not, that we find rest.
Said another way: It’s in knowing God, through Jesus’ work on the cross, that we find rest for our souls.
Challnege: Make a list of the excuses and reasons you’ve used to avoid rest. Pray about each one of these and turn them over to God in trust.
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In our series on Christmas as the Night that Changed Everything, this week we’re looking at how it’s the night that changed the poor. The poor have a priveleged place in the story of Jesus' birth at Christmas. Here is where that really shows:
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. (Luke 2:4-7)
When a politician visits a troubled area, it’s important. I recall after the 1998 ice storm in Eastern Ontario, the Prime Minister visited Wolfe Island, where I used to volunteer as a paramedic. Years later, people would still talk about how the Prime Minister had come, and how. They knew in that moment that he’d seen what they were dealing with, through his own eyes.
Here in the Christmas story we see God doing that. He has come to visit our broken and hurting world, and has let the entire population know that he is here with us – from rich to poor, young to old. It’s so apparent in that he comes to earth not like pampered royalty, but as a homeless baby.
His parents are on their way to Bethlehem for the census. They must travel, even though Mary is pregnant and close to birth. They arrive, apparently without plans for accomodations (or their plans are cancelled when an unmarried pregnant woman arrives) and find no room in any inns. If they had money, you can imagine they might buy their way out of trouble, but it doesn’t happen, and they end up in a stable. The baby is born, wrapped in cloths, a poor, defenseless baby whose parents are doing the best they can, which isn’t much. The word translated as stable may be a building dedicated to animals like we think, or it’s possible it represented a one room house with both animals and people, but either way it was modest.
This is not a story of privelege and power. Why would God – who we would expect to come in majesty and splendour – arrive in this way?
Question: What might God be trying to tell us in coming to earth in this way?
Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community - so check out today's reading here.
In preparation for Christmas, our Daily Challenges are going to explore the lifechanging significance of Jesus' birth so long ago. It's more than a sentimental story, or a time for generosity, Christmas celebrates The Night that Changed Everything. We'll explore the original Christmas story from the Bible, and its impact on five kinds of people.
