Strive to Enter Rest
Paul tells us to strive to enter into Christ's rest. (Heb. 4:11)
And, to strive to take hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of us. (Phil. 3:12)
Holy striving is to take hold of Christ's finished work through the cross and resurrection, by faith.
We don't strive to finish it.
It sounds like a paradox, but it's worth seeking the Lord about the difference.
It's God's heart to bless us.
His blessings aren't transactional.
His abundance is not earned by man's ideas of striving.
God doesn't work according to our common sense ideas of merit. He's a rich king with a storehouse of grace that Jesus bought for those who believe him.
Everything we do for the Lord, that is acceptable to the Lord, comes from the place of abiding in the truth. If our works are trying to code-crack grace, which is a free gift, then we are trying to manipulate his already generous hand.
We earn nothing, but death and the grave. But God, in his love mercy, gave us his free gift of grace through Jesus, to redeem us into life and eternal wholeness. The gate is open.
If you are going through a hard valley, embrace abiding.
Only still things, resting in wait, collect dew in the night.
Each astonishing interaction with the gentle and lowly, living word of God causes us to laugh our pride right out.
All we thought we knew.
All the times we trusted our thoughts and feelings.
All the times we adopted man's wisdom.
In comes the kiss of his wisdom and our high tower comes gleefully crashing down. Down comes the embrace of his love and our fear and understanding trips us into it. Sheepish, before the Shepherd.
There's simply nowhere else to go.
God will soon shake all that can be shaken.
If you're reading this, he's calling you out from the lofty, precarious place of your independence and into his meadow.
Today is the day of salvation.
Send this to a someone who needs to know how much God loves them.
At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike." Matthew 11:25