What are your thoughts on R & R... ya know, like rest and relaxation?
What things come to mind?
Is it a quiet evening out on a walk with your family?
Is it a day where you veg and do nothing but binge-watch the latest trending Netflix series?
Is it a day when you go and get pampered at the spa?
Is it a day when you get to sleep in without having to wake up and instantly start the role of motherhood? No diapers to change, no bottles or pancakes to make. When your kids forget you exist, and your husband is the one to take on the demanding role of "mommy" for the morning?
Or is it a day you get to do whatever your tired momma heart desires?
What does R & R mean to you?
What does the perfect day of R & R look like for you?
Bear with me now as I switch gears.
Let's talk about a different kind of R&R... I promise I have a point :)
Relationship and religion?
Please, don't stop reading!
When you hear this commandment, what comes to your mind?
"Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God." Exodus 20:8-10
What did this verse mean to you:
"Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
Do you take this rest seriously?
Or is it just another day that you spend doing whatever you want to do, resting in the way you want to vs. the way God calls us to rest?
God has me in the book of Exodus right now, and some people may think, “Why Exodus? It’s so boring!” I know some people think this because I am some people. When I felt God nudge me to read Exodus, I asked, "Why Exodus, God?!"
But each day, as I read a new chapter, God reveals new things to me and the boringness has turned into a blessing.
I read this verse yesterday:
“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day must be a Sabbath day of complete rest, a holy day dedicated to the Lord. Anyone who works on that day must be put to death.”
Exodus 35:2 NLT
And I thought to myself: dang! That’s a harsh and strict punishment for not resting!!
Don’t rest on the 7th day? Well then, God will ensure you REST for the rest of eternity…
6 feet underground!
And if it is in the Bible, I bet you it happened. Someone didn't rest, and someone lost their life. Like when you read on the side of the McDonald's coffee cup, "Caution: Contents Hot." Like, duh, I ordered a hot coffee. Like the cup, someone did something that resulted in the words being written. This holds true for the Bible as well. I believe that God would not include unnecessary words in His Word. His Words ALL have a purpose and a lesson for us.
But as I was thinking these intrusive thoughts to myself about the Words of God, God softened my heart.
It’s not harsh and strict. It was significant then, and it is significant today.
The significance of setting aside a day for the Lord while we are on Earth is emphasized by God. He put it in the top 10 commandments for goodness' sake!
It is imperative that we follow His instructions. This is similar to the "caution" message on a hot cup, reminding us to be careful and proceed with caution to avoid harm. He is teaching us how vital it is to REST, truly REST with Him, to avoid injury or death.
He is trying to teach us the boundaries we should set for ourselves as part of our Christian walk.
He is trying to teach us the importance of filling our spiritual cup.
Spiritual boundaries are necessary for spiritual growth.
Spiritual rest is required for our spiritual life and our relationship with God.
If we can’t dedicate time to the Lord, reading His Word, in prayer, praising, repenting, asking Him what His will is, and yielding to hear His still, small voice… how will we ever deepen our relationship with Him?
We can’t.
Our relationship with the Lord should be our top priority. It is who we get to spend eternity with IF we believe in Jesus Christ and call on Him as Lord and Savior… wouldn’t you want to get to know Him and be excited to spend eternity with Him?
Would you want to spend the rest of your life with someone you don't know?
I bet your answer is no.
If we are too busy working, running, spending time with kids, spouses, family, and friends… and have little to no time left for Jesus… what kind of relationship are we building with Him?
We spend all week doing these things and spending time with these people. 24/7, 365. Yet, we can’t give God 52 days out of 365?
That’s only 14% (ish) of our year!
It doesn’t seem like much, and he deserves WAY more!
In reality… when we don't take the time to spend quality time with the Lord, everything else will become idols in our life, and they become our mini gods. And let me gently remind you about this commandment:
“You shall have no other gods before me.”
Exodus 20:3
This whole Christian journey is about a relationship, not religion.
It’s true.
Spending time with God is not an act of religion.
It’s a critical element of a healthy relationship.
Think of the critical elements in a relationship to be healthy:
1. Time spent together getting to know one another.
2. Communication
3. Love
4. Support
5. Trust & honesty
6. Commitment
I could go on. But if you take these main ones away, you are left with a very unhealthy non-existent relationship.
You are left alone. Relationshipless. With nothing.
When we aren't spending time with Jesus, communicating with Him in prayer, loving Him by our actions, supporting Him by telling others, trusting that His ways are better than our own, being honest with Him, and committing our lives to Him: we are left with no relationship with Jesus.
I want you to pause for a moment and read these verses:
Matthew 10:23, Matthew 7:21-23, Philippians 4:6, James 4:8, Matthew 4:4
So no, it’s not harsh and strict.
It’s necessary.
When we don’t rest with the Lord, we risk becoming spiritually dead.
So remember this:
“𝒦𝑒𝑒𝓅 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒮𝒶𝒷𝒷𝒶𝓉𝒽 𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝒽𝑜𝓁𝓎. 𝒟𝑜𝓃’𝓉 𝓅𝓊𝓇𝓈𝓊𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓈 𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒹𝒶𝓎, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝑒𝓃𝒿𝑜𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒮𝒶𝒷𝒷𝒶𝓉𝒽 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒶𝓀 𝑜𝒻 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒹𝑒𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝓇𝒹’𝓈 𝒽𝑜𝓁𝓎 𝒹𝒶𝓎. 𝐻𝑜𝓃𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒮𝒶𝒷𝒷𝒶𝓉𝒽 𝒾𝓃 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜 𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒹𝒶𝓎, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒹𝑜𝓃’𝓉 𝒻𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑜𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝒾𝓇𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒶𝓁𝓀 𝒾𝒹𝓁𝓎.”-𝐼𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒶𝒽 𝟧𝟪:𝟣𝟥
“𝐼𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒, 𝓀𝑒𝑒𝓅 𝓂𝓎 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓈." 𝒥𝑜𝒽𝓃 𝟣𝟦:𝟣𝟧
"𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝒥𝑒𝓈𝓊𝓈 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹, “𝒞𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝑒, 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝒶𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓋𝓎 𝒷𝓊𝓇𝒹𝑒𝓃𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉." 𝑀𝒶𝓉𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓌 𝟣𝟣:𝟤𝟪
He is inviting us into the most important relationship we will ever have for all eternity, and He wants us to rest our weary, overworked, and worried hearts and minds. He WANTS and desires to spend time with us.
It is vitally important to Him and should be vitally important to us too.
Let's pray:
Dear Lord, I thank You for these gentle reminders all throughout Your Word. I praise you, Lord, for wanting a relationship with a wretch like me, and I thank you for your unconditional love. I thank you for extending your grace to me when it has been awhile since I last spent quality time with you. Help me to desire spending time with you more than the things of this world. I pray for you to soften my heart to the importance of spending time in prayer and vital rest in your Word. Lord, I pray for our releationship to bloosm into something of Beauty. I pray for a deeper, more intimate relationship with the One I will spend eternity with. Bless our time together & I pray for the awareness of Your continuous presence.
Thank you, Lord, for Your wonders, Amen 🙏🏼
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