His Rest

Last week when the plane touched down in the city where I live I had an overwhelming emotion that almost brought me to tears. I was finally home; tired, not really physically but emotionally. Too much travel, too many events, too many items on the “to do list”… too much of too much…

Leading up to that business trip I told my family I will not travel for work until late January. It only took me four days to start formulating plans to break that promise. Fortunately while authoring this post I became convicted and am going to stick to the promise. That’s the Holy Spirit at work.

The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow again. (Justin Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister)

That’s a quote that I use often in business as it rings true for technology, competition, innovation as well as global crises. Those words could bring anxiety and they could bring excitement depending on your attitude toward change. I use the quote to inspire and challenge, to change mindsets from “soon this will all be over” to acceptance of the new reality, to prepare for and even embrace constant change rather than fearing changes and quickly becoming irrelevant.

With the constant change, are you finding it more difficult to slow down and rest? Look at your events calendar for the past few months… Is it completely full? And what about the space between appointments, what happened then? I confess to actually having pride in seeing my calendar booked nearly every hour of every business day. Yes I know this is the wrong path and I also know I’m not alone in this mindset. God knows your heart, you can admit it too.

Real rest

God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. (Hebrews 4:1)

Note that Hebrews 4:1, 3, 7 refer to his rest, God’s rest. When we soften our hearts, submit to him and his will, and turn to him for rest we receive something much better than a long night’s sleep. There is peace, true rest and freedom in being nearer to our Heavenly Father.

When is a better time to rest than December as we prepare our hearts for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ? Dedicate time over the next several weeks to unplug, to literally turn off the mobile phone or go out for a walk without the phone or any other electronic communication device. Listen for His voice today.

So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: