George Muller commented regarding his reading of the Bible: "I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God. Friends often say, 'I have so much to do, so many people to see, I cannot find time for Scripture study.' Perhaps there are not many who more to do than I. For more than half a century I have never known one day when I had not more business than I could get through. For four years I have had annually about thirty thousand letters, and most of these have passed through my own hands. Then, as pastor of a church of twelve hundred believers, great has been my care. Besides, I have had charge of five immense orphanages; also, at my published depot, the printing and circulating of millions of tracts, books, and Bibles; but I have always made it a rule never to begin work until I have had a good season with God and His Word. The blessing I have received has been wonderful."
HT: john currid.
Showing posts with label rest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rest. Show all posts
Monday, September 1, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
time remains, it does not pass.
there's a great chapter in the knowledge of the holy by a.w. tozer called 'God's infinitude.' to not at all do it justice, infinitude means limitless, and it is obviously impossible for a limited mind to grasp the Unlimited. the depths of the riches both of the knowledge and wisdom of God is incredible, yet this chapter reveals to me just how "unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out." it reminds me of my own limits, or, rather, what i think are limits. this really strikes a nerve along the subject of what i've been learning lately, about time and busyness and rest. tozer says:
"because God's nature is infinite, everything that flows out of it is infinite also. we poor human creatures are constantly being frustrated by limitations imposed upon us from without and within. the days of the years of our lives are few, and swifter than a weaver's shuttle. life is a short and fevered rehearsal for a concert we cannot stay to give. just when we appear to have attained some proficiency we are forced to lay our instruments down. there is simply not time enough to think, to become, to perform what the constitution of our natures indicates we are capable of.
how completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none. eternal years lie in His heart. for Him time does not pass, it remains; and those who are in Christ share with Him all the riches of limitless time and endless years. God never hurries. there are no deadlines against which He must work. only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves. for those out of Christ, time is a devouring beast; before the sons of the new creation time crouches and purrs and licks their hands. the foe of the old human race becomes the friend of the new, and the stars in their courses fight for the man God delights to honor. this we may learn from the divine infinitude."
this is such a good reminder of my riches in Christ. i should never treat time as a "devouring beast," for i have been given eternity. i want the satisfaction that lies in turning to a limitless God. as fallen creatures, we have limits. we live in a world where time passes and moves on, yet we're still not of this world. for us, time is eternal and therefore it doesn't end. tozer goes on to say, "in God there is life enough for all and time enough to enjoy it. whatever is possessed of natural life runs through its cycle from birth to death and ceases to be, but the life of God returns upon itself and ceases never." we are given life by God, and it doesn't cease. how thankful we should be, for we don't have to look at time the way that the world does. we are given a gift of time from God, but it's a gift that is eternal, and we should treat it as such.
it's ok if we don't get everything done we have planned for a day, a week, or a year. if time is really eternal, if time really "remains," then we will have time enough for all, and time enough to enjoy God as we should.
"because God's nature is infinite, everything that flows out of it is infinite also. we poor human creatures are constantly being frustrated by limitations imposed upon us from without and within. the days of the years of our lives are few, and swifter than a weaver's shuttle. life is a short and fevered rehearsal for a concert we cannot stay to give. just when we appear to have attained some proficiency we are forced to lay our instruments down. there is simply not time enough to think, to become, to perform what the constitution of our natures indicates we are capable of.
how completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none. eternal years lie in His heart. for Him time does not pass, it remains; and those who are in Christ share with Him all the riches of limitless time and endless years. God never hurries. there are no deadlines against which He must work. only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves. for those out of Christ, time is a devouring beast; before the sons of the new creation time crouches and purrs and licks their hands. the foe of the old human race becomes the friend of the new, and the stars in their courses fight for the man God delights to honor. this we may learn from the divine infinitude."
this is such a good reminder of my riches in Christ. i should never treat time as a "devouring beast," for i have been given eternity. i want the satisfaction that lies in turning to a limitless God. as fallen creatures, we have limits. we live in a world where time passes and moves on, yet we're still not of this world. for us, time is eternal and therefore it doesn't end. tozer goes on to say, "in God there is life enough for all and time enough to enjoy it. whatever is possessed of natural life runs through its cycle from birth to death and ceases to be, but the life of God returns upon itself and ceases never." we are given life by God, and it doesn't cease. how thankful we should be, for we don't have to look at time the way that the world does. we are given a gift of time from God, but it's a gift that is eternal, and we should treat it as such.
it's ok if we don't get everything done we have planned for a day, a week, or a year. if time is really eternal, if time really "remains," then we will have time enough for all, and time enough to enjoy God as we should.
Friday, August 1, 2008
what a sabbatical.
you may have noticed i took a short sabbatical from the blogging world from june 3rd up until right now. my mind was overloaded and rest was needed and had. i didn't feel like there was anything i was learning that was really worthwhile to post. but i'm back in action! refreshed and ready to go for a new season of life.
here's a little snippet of what i've been learning this summer. i presented it as my independent study for project: columbia, so when you read this, know that there are many things in it that i wish i had time to develop more.
"I did my study on busyness and the Sabbath because it’s something that I continually struggle with, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly—it never ends, and it’s something that I continually wrestle with. So why am I a slave to busyness, and a slave to something that I have been freed from in Christ? Knowing that I am a slave to it, it’s still something that I like, something that I don’t necessarily want to be freed from. It gives me pleasure, it gives me worth, and ultimately busyness is something in which I find a part of my identity—my identity apart from Christ. That’s not what I was made for and I want to desire to live differently and live obediently to the holy calling of Sabbath and to rest and refreshment in the Lord. Because it is a direct disobedience to God.
I did a lot of study on the Sabbath and learned a lot from looking at this area that I purposely don’t ever think about (even though I want and need my soul to be continually rejuvenated). God gives us the gift of rest in the fourth commandment in Exodus. It is a privilege that I keep it, and I want to think of this as more of a gift, something that benefits me, rather than another religious duty or something that I should do legalistically. Because of the fall, work has been polluted and is described as a painful toil, but God, in his love, wants us to be able to work hard without being worn down by worry—thus the Sabbath. God knew when he was writing these commands that we need rest, and it shows how devoted our God is to loving us despite how foolish we are that we even need a command. The commandment requires rest both physically and spiritually. There is a gladness that comes from relief of the body and according to Genesis 2:3 (“So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”), there was an inactivity—a simple enjoyment of the world that God made, a delight and thanksgiving in his Creation.
One article I read talked about rest and work as a rhythm that God built into the world when He made it.
I wanted to look at my life and see what this means for me and my busyness that I hold onto. If I know the way God made it, that I am supposed to rest, to seek that out and to make that a holy priority in my life, then why don’t I do it? Ultimately it stems from my own unbelief in the gospel—an unbelief in the Lord’s promise to control my life despite my actions, and an unbelief in the Lord’s sovereignty. It also shows my lack of love for the Lord, because I am not obeying Him in this area, and shows my lack of trust that he will take care of me. God is sovereign over time. One article I read stated, “God sets boundaries of time for our activities, and our submission to those limits represents our trust in him to take care of us. One entailment of God as Lord of time is that we are to recognize time as a gift. We do not control the time we have—God has given it to us and can do with it as he pleases.” We can only humbly receive time from him, and we must be good stewards of it. So there is a tension between using that time wisely for good, and using it to rest. The practice of this in my life is hard. Wisdom is taking every opportunity and fully using the time granted us. It’s in Scripture to both make the most of evangelistic opportunities and also to seek God’s will and cultivate holiness. “To redeem the time means to fill it with divine purpose, not just with any and every activity.”
Another article talked about something called “holy busyness.” It is okay to be busy if it is a balance of working hard as a manifestation of trusting God and cultivating times of rest, but not if we are busy to justify ourselves. It must be grounded in the gospel: Who we are comes before what we do, and we must remember that our relationship with God precedes the activity we do for him. God has provided the gifts of time and work, and we can trust that each is sufficient for the other. Therefore, holy busyness foes not complain about not having enough time, for ultimately such grumbling is directed against God—He has given us our time. But when it comes to rest, we have to remember that God made us creatures before he made us Christians.
Our priority has to be relationship with God, and out of that should flow our activity. “Too much busyness today is not rightly oriented, even if it has good motives, because it has lost sight of the primacy of knowing God.” One question my mind continually comes back to is ‘Do I love my works/ministry/job/people (and even doing these things in the name of the Lord) more than I love Christ Himself?’ I think that hits the heart of the issue. I love what I am doing more than I love Christ, and that is why it is a struggle for me to rest."
here's a little snippet of what i've been learning this summer. i presented it as my independent study for project: columbia, so when you read this, know that there are many things in it that i wish i had time to develop more.
"I did my study on busyness and the Sabbath because it’s something that I continually struggle with, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly—it never ends, and it’s something that I continually wrestle with. So why am I a slave to busyness, and a slave to something that I have been freed from in Christ? Knowing that I am a slave to it, it’s still something that I like, something that I don’t necessarily want to be freed from. It gives me pleasure, it gives me worth, and ultimately busyness is something in which I find a part of my identity—my identity apart from Christ. That’s not what I was made for and I want to desire to live differently and live obediently to the holy calling of Sabbath and to rest and refreshment in the Lord. Because it is a direct disobedience to God.
I did a lot of study on the Sabbath and learned a lot from looking at this area that I purposely don’t ever think about (even though I want and need my soul to be continually rejuvenated). God gives us the gift of rest in the fourth commandment in Exodus. It is a privilege that I keep it, and I want to think of this as more of a gift, something that benefits me, rather than another religious duty or something that I should do legalistically. Because of the fall, work has been polluted and is described as a painful toil, but God, in his love, wants us to be able to work hard without being worn down by worry—thus the Sabbath. God knew when he was writing these commands that we need rest, and it shows how devoted our God is to loving us despite how foolish we are that we even need a command. The commandment requires rest both physically and spiritually. There is a gladness that comes from relief of the body and according to Genesis 2:3 (“So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”), there was an inactivity—a simple enjoyment of the world that God made, a delight and thanksgiving in his Creation.
One article I read talked about rest and work as a rhythm that God built into the world when He made it.
I wanted to look at my life and see what this means for me and my busyness that I hold onto. If I know the way God made it, that I am supposed to rest, to seek that out and to make that a holy priority in my life, then why don’t I do it? Ultimately it stems from my own unbelief in the gospel—an unbelief in the Lord’s promise to control my life despite my actions, and an unbelief in the Lord’s sovereignty. It also shows my lack of love for the Lord, because I am not obeying Him in this area, and shows my lack of trust that he will take care of me. God is sovereign over time. One article I read stated, “God sets boundaries of time for our activities, and our submission to those limits represents our trust in him to take care of us. One entailment of God as Lord of time is that we are to recognize time as a gift. We do not control the time we have—God has given it to us and can do with it as he pleases.” We can only humbly receive time from him, and we must be good stewards of it. So there is a tension between using that time wisely for good, and using it to rest. The practice of this in my life is hard. Wisdom is taking every opportunity and fully using the time granted us. It’s in Scripture to both make the most of evangelistic opportunities and also to seek God’s will and cultivate holiness. “To redeem the time means to fill it with divine purpose, not just with any and every activity.”
Another article talked about something called “holy busyness.” It is okay to be busy if it is a balance of working hard as a manifestation of trusting God and cultivating times of rest, but not if we are busy to justify ourselves. It must be grounded in the gospel: Who we are comes before what we do, and we must remember that our relationship with God precedes the activity we do for him. God has provided the gifts of time and work, and we can trust that each is sufficient for the other. Therefore, holy busyness foes not complain about not having enough time, for ultimately such grumbling is directed against God—He has given us our time. But when it comes to rest, we have to remember that God made us creatures before he made us Christians.
Our priority has to be relationship with God, and out of that should flow our activity. “Too much busyness today is not rightly oriented, even if it has good motives, because it has lost sight of the primacy of knowing God.” One question my mind continually comes back to is ‘Do I love my works/ministry/job/people (and even doing these things in the name of the Lord) more than I love Christ Himself?’ I think that hits the heart of the issue. I love what I am doing more than I love Christ, and that is why it is a struggle for me to rest."
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
receive.
i went to a church service here in st. louis with a friend yesterday, and was kind of taken for a spin. the church was on it's 4th week of a word a week leading up to the christmas service (of which there was TEN--it was so packed) and this week was receive. i think throughout the service most of our thoughts consisted of asking questions as to when the meaty stuff was going to come, when is there going to be the christmas message, when is the story going to be told. but there wasn't really any of that, just simple explanation after simple explanation of what means to receive an incredible gift--namely the gift of Christ. grace was emphasized so much that there wasn't much else to the sermon.
while there are reasons why this will never really be my "home" church, it forced us to step back from analyzing all the components that went into this service and just reflect on this core reality of Christianity. this gift of God making himself fully man--for us--is something that i need to keep coming back to. God is a God we can and should worship. and doing that, really letting our soul rest in the worship, receiving the grace that is continually poured out on us, is so important.
i think sometimes i can get so caught up in all the forward progress that i need to be making, doing all of these things for God and trying to be culturally relevant and focusing on all of these other things. during our drive home, we had some good talk time about how it is good and "successful" in itself to worship, to rest in grace truly, and to do that before anything else. it is such a simple thing, yet the difficulty comes when we lost sight of what a true gift it is. everything in us wants to say "what's next," or "ok, now what," but it's ok to be just be; it just is.
on another note, what would i do without all of these amazing friends i have? i have been so blessed, and i am so grateful for that.
merry christmas!
while there are reasons why this will never really be my "home" church, it forced us to step back from analyzing all the components that went into this service and just reflect on this core reality of Christianity. this gift of God making himself fully man--for us--is something that i need to keep coming back to. God is a God we can and should worship. and doing that, really letting our soul rest in the worship, receiving the grace that is continually poured out on us, is so important.
i think sometimes i can get so caught up in all the forward progress that i need to be making, doing all of these things for God and trying to be culturally relevant and focusing on all of these other things. during our drive home, we had some good talk time about how it is good and "successful" in itself to worship, to rest in grace truly, and to do that before anything else. it is such a simple thing, yet the difficulty comes when we lost sight of what a true gift it is. everything in us wants to say "what's next," or "ok, now what," but it's ok to be just be; it just is.
on another note, what would i do without all of these amazing friends i have? i have been so blessed, and i am so grateful for that.
merry christmas!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
