Stress

It's is crazy how physically worn a person can get when stressed out. I know from experience. My bones literally ache when I am too stressed or have been working on high-stress projects (or with high-stress people) for too long. I don't blame stress though. Stress can be a good thing. Stress activates the bodies systems to be present and engaged. I suppose I just forget that I can't be activated all the time, and I shouldn't. After all, God blessed rest and made it holy. Has it ever sunken in that rest is "holy!?" Rest is literally something pure and good. To be still and rest is one of the greatest necessities for a connection to the Holy One. Why is rest so hard? I guess we're just used to trying to get our self-worth out of activity. I can't live that way anymore. It kills me, quite literally. As much as it's a good thing to constantly give to others, to never receive means you're giving them an empty cup, which hurts them and you. 

Recently I experienced a week that had higher doses of stress than normal. God subtly got my attention by directing me to a passage I ended up rereading for days, Matthew 11:25-30. In context, this passage is directly after Jesus denounces the towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. He is worn out from helping and doing miracles for groups of people who are unmoved by his amazing love and the manifestations of his grace. After he finishes his denunciations, he starts talking about the burdens that the remaining hearers carry because of many of the unrepentant power-holders in those cities (the Pharisees). To those who are still with him, he offers this invitation: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matt. 11:28-30)" Following this invitation, he gets yelled at by the Pharisees for being unlawful on the Sabbath. So what was Jesus saying to those faithful listeners. The world, the church (the Pharisees), and even family and friends will try to make life complicated. The world says you need to produce or die. The church says you have to believe and live in exactly its defined ways or else suffer the guilt of disobedience, and family can place expectations of how you must fulfill your "role" as a part of the family. But what does Jesus say? "My burden is light... my yoke is easy." This can be better translated, my expectations for you are light, and the teachings I want you to know and live by are easy. Don't carry something that isn't yours. At the feet of Jesus we can find real rest, because only He can recalibrate us to who we are and why we are here. 

I kept reading this passage because I was struggling to live in the Presence of God and overloaded by the "responsibilities" I thought I had. I needed recalibration. God was calling me back into that place of rest. 

A fellow pastor friend of mine George Gainer posted such a timely reminder to his church that hit me right in the heart. He said,

"If you ask me, one of the best feelings in the world is the feeling of freedom! Amen? It's that feeling you get when you're a kid (or a teacher;) and school gets canceled for a snow day! It's that feeling you get as an adult when you start driving before dawn on your first day of vacation! It's that feeling you get when you finally finish your tax preparation and drop off the envelope at the post office! O the joy of freedom! It is that very reality of freedom, where we feel most alive, that the Lord desires His children to experience. And yet, we've somehow skewed our relationship to Him as one of burden-bearing and perpetual-responsibility. We relate to Him as slaves. He wants us to love Him like sons and daughters. Abba! Father! Great joy! Yes!" -Pastor George

Ultimately, the rest that comes from Jesus is the rest that comes from the freedom of our true identity, sons and daughters. To be free to just be loved by God and be a son or daughter gives real rest. No performing, no pleasing, no slave-like working. Just enjoying Him. That's my daily pursuit. I like that place. Join me there.