“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
Philippians 4:11–13 (NIV)
So what was the answer to this busy-is-better lie? How could I wean myself off my habit of running myself (and everyone around me) ragged, often in the name of Christ? What would it mean to rest in what is, instead of always chasing what could be?
In his book The Supper of the Lamb, Robert Farrar Capon writes this:
The world exists, not for what it means but for what it is. The purpose of mushrooms is to be mushrooms, the purpose of wine is to be wine. Things are precious before they are contributory. To be sure, God remains the greatest good, but for all that, the world is still good in itself. Indeed, since He does not need it, its whole reason for being must lie in its own goodness; He has no use for it; only delight.
The purpose of a raspberry is to be a raspberry. The purpose of a cloud is to be a cloud. The purpose of snail is to be a snail. Things are precious first. God has no use for them, only delight in them. How amazing. Could this mean that naps can be just naps—and not a pitstop before the next event? If Capon got it right, then perhaps the purpose of rest, the Sabbath sort of rest, is to just rest.
Perhaps the reason we get Sabbath wrong—or have abandoned it altogether—is that we came to see resting as a highly inefficient way of acquiring fuel to do more instead of a sacred call to restoration and wholeness. Maybe, before we can celebrate the Sabbath as God intended, we must first be willing to see rest as a precious gift instead of a useful tool.
Reflect:
Read Philippians 4:11–13 and consider contentment again. When have you been truly content? How did that impact your sense of identity? How did it affect the way you viewed other people, objects, and events in your life? How might it have been related to experiences of rest?
Pray:
With God, consider how the way you think of rest may need to be changed. How could rest—just being—help you grow in wholeness? Now spend time thanking God for his gift of rest.
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
We’ve got little information on Jesus’ appearance and personality. But that’s the way God designed it.españolFrançais
After lobbying from fellow Southern Baptists and Christians affected by the war, the House speaker moves a package forward.
