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“We are all capable of
being spiritually lazy saints. We want to stay off the rough rods of life and
our primary objective is to secure a peaceful retreat from the world. To live a
distant, withdrawn, and secluded life is diametrically opposed to spirituality
as Jesus Christ taught it.
All we want to hear
about is a spiritual retirement from the world. Yet Jesus Christ never
encourages the idea of retirement - He says, "Go and tell My brethren.”[1]
While our Savior is no
taskmaster, neither is He without expectations. In the same way that Christ
called His disciples to a time away from the crowds, bustle, and stress of
ministry, so He called them back to ministry and sent them out to continue what
had already begun.
Sometimes the difficult
process of discernment for the Christian is knowing when Christ calls to push
ahead, and when He calls us to rest, recharge, and relax. There are certainly times
when we feel our energy has been spent, our reserves are dried up, and nothing
is left to finish the task at hand. It is in those times that Christ does
indeed call us away to a quiet place and bids us, “rest.”
The rest of Christ, the
renewal of the Holy Spirit, prepares us once again to take up the work of the
Kingdom. It is truly refreshing, as long as the time spent is spent submitting
to the comforting peace of the Holy Spirit. If one is simply avoiding the task
Christ has called them to take up, there will be no rest until that task is
completed; their soul will find no peace in solitude, no comfort in quietness,
no refreshment in sleep. Satisfaction, at least in this particular calling,
will only come when the task is completed and the Spirit releases us from that
particular urging. What is God calling you to complete?
Pastor Craig
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