We’re going to take a quick look at a passage from the Sermon on the Mount today, that we actually explored several weeks ago as part of that series.  You can find it here: http://bit.ly/14LRCtP

Matthew 6:28-34 ESV says:

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Jesus uses a good analogy – beautiful flowers are clothed in God-given beauty.  But our human tendency is to see beauty as the product of our own hard work – we need to toil and spin if we want to be beautiful.  We have invented entire industries of fashion, consmetics, pharmaceuticals devoted to helping us work for our beauty.

We regularly delude ourselves into thinking it’s all about us, from our beauty to our purpose in this world, and that can make it very hard to rest.

It’s so easy to feel guilty – I didn’t do as much as I should have last week, I forgot this, or I am so not ready for Monday.  We always think we should be doing more.  It can be particularly hard for entrepreneurs – every sale makes or breaks the company, every contact could be a sale.

So we stay up at night, or check our phone constantly, or just have our mind on work when it could be resting.

True rest means finding ways to put that kind of worry and guilt aside.  Tomorrow, we’ll look at one more inner change that helps., then next week we’ll look at some practical hints, but for many this looks like prayer, some kind of different activity, and turning the phone off.

Question: What do you tend to worry about when you’re resting?  Do you feel guilty about resting, or taking vacation?

Ryan Sim - August 4, 2015

Tuesday - Study It - Working Badly

Last week we learned how we are made for work – when God created (his work) the world and us, we were meant to engage in work with him. But it didn't take long for humans to rebel against God and his plan for us, and now everything is not as it should be…including work. We went off the metaphorical train tracks we described last week - God had given us a good context, direction and plan for life, but we decided to strike out for ourselves. We are now missing the context for our lives, and life is no longer integrated. This is what happened after that rebellion from God, in Genesis 3:17-19 And to Adam he said, ...cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” God was stating the natural consequence of humanity's departure from him and his care - life will now be painful labour. It can take everything out of you - if you have ever tried to start something new, grow food, win a game, or lead people well, you know this is true. Things are never as easy as they should or could be. Something is broken in us. We can also see this in our frustration with the little things. Things that should be easy can be really hard. What followed is that humans clothed themselves in an act of self-protection, which we also see in them is trust and anger we regularly have for other people, especially those we work with. The humans also started to blame each other, the rest of creation, and God. Sound like your workplace? So how does work end up being broken today? At one extreme, we can live for work. We can be driven by a goal, but the problem is those goals are always fleeting - the goal itself never lives up to its hype. We are always finding we arrive somewhere, only to be driven ahead by something more, or something better. The product never matches what was in your head. Or work becomes pointless, running after something with no real value, simply because it’s the "logical" next step in a career path. Or work becomes selfish, all about becoming famous, wealthy, or powerful, rather than producing or generating a good for society. We can start to break rules, hide things, or violate some ethics because we are so driven. We always need to come back to the question of why – why am I working? Why has God put me here? Given me these resources, these skills, this power, this place? Question: Why do you work? Whatever effort you exert – why do you do it?

From Series: "Work and Rest"

Just in time for summer's blend of work and rest, Redeem the Commute is starting a new series of daily challenges to help busy people restore life to the commuting lifestyle. This seven week series will look at the meaning and purpose of work, rest, and ancient practices that have helped followers of Jesus to keep the two in perspective and balance for centuries.

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