Dude Skill #6: REST – Part 3
#33 IN MY SERIES OF POSTINGS DEDICATED TO SUMMARIZING A WONDERFUL BOOK ENTITLED “THE DUDE’S GUIDE TO MARRIAGE: TEN SKILLS EVERY HUSBAND MUST DEVELOP TO LOVE HIS WIFE WELL” BY DARRIN & AMIE PATRICK.
Imitating God In Rest (continued)
We can imitate God by doing good work, not being hurried in our work, actually ceasing from our work, and then celebrating our work
We Should Cease From Our Work
You know how hard this is if you have ever been involved in a start-up. I remember when I started the church. I felt as though the world would stop if I stopped. I was convinced that “if it is going to be, it is up to me.” Many of my coaches and professors flat-out said that if I wasn’t working seventy to eighty hours, I wasn’t really doing my job. I question that wisdom now. I question it philosophically because of my spiritually and practically because of my physicality. I set in place bad patterns in my spiritual life during this time that have been tough to shake. I still suffer the bodily consequences of overwork.
My counselor has really challenged the why of my overwork. We have had many conversations, but here is the gist of why I work to hard and rest too poorly. I think I’m God. Sabbath is God’s way of dethroning us. Sabbath is God’s way of reminding us of our creatureliness. Sabbath humbles us by telling us, “You do not have endless energy. You are not invincible. You may not go on forever in your own strength. You may not run at four thousand RPM.” Sabbath is God’s way of showing us we’re not God. Yes, it’s also God’s way of dignifying us.
We Should Celebrate Our Work
The order of events is important. God worked six days and rested on the seventh. Then after the rest, God began to rule over what He created. It seems that God’s reign over His creation included a celebration of that creation. Theologian Sandra Richter said that in the ancient Near East, “rest was something that conquering kings had and did when their enemies were defeated and their domain was fully under their control… a king who had proven himself a king ‘rested.'” This is the very image of God: “enthroned above his productive and peaceful domain.” Through the Sabbath we’re invited into God’s rest.
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