Hebrews 4:9-11 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
There seems to be a lot of striving these days, striving to be better than other people. I guess there has always been some one-up-manship in the world. Humans have competed since the beginning. Cain and Able seemed to have some sort of competition going on, a competition that we seem to reenact on a daily basis.
Watch a playground and you will see competition, not the friendly, let’s play together kind of competition, but the ugly, I’m better than you kind. If only competition ended when grade school ended. Competition seems to permeant so many areas of life.
But is competition in and of itself bad? Is there something helpful to competition? Does competition yield some positive results that need to be acknowledged? No, yes, yes!
Competition can help us become stronger, smarter, more inventive, more focused. But competition can also bring about hostile takeovers and corporate raiding, not to the exclusion of the parents of youth sports and pinewood derby. If only we could allow kids to just be kids, and not infuse kid’s activities with such adult expectations! Being a kid is supposed to be fun!
Even in the spiritual realm, competition can arise. Just think about the “churches” that meet in stadiums. There certainly isn’t any competition there! Or authors who boast about their book being on the NYTimes bestseller list. Since when is the NYTimes bestseller list something that the LORD checks?
All this striving. All this energy focused in ways that just don’t matter. When will we learn to rest?
Our text tells us something profound. We can, right now, have rest fro striving and competition. We can, right now, pause and stand for some rest in the righteousness of Christ. Our striving and labor to be good enough can come to an end. We are already good enough in Christ. Rest!
But what keeps us from this rest? Disobedience. Lack of trust. Faith placed in the wrong place. These are the things that keep us from rest.
If we believe one of the central tenants of the Christian faith, that Jesus’ righteousness gets credited to our account, then what further need is there for us to compete? We have already won because of Him. We are seated already in heavenly places in Christ. What more exalted place of honor could be achieved?
But so many followers of Jesus continue to strive, often because they have areas of disobedience with which they struggle. It is that disobedience that robs them of their rest. If we would just obey, rest is right there waiting for us.
But that is the rub. We don’t want to obey. We think somehow, that the LORD doesn’t want what is best for us, with will bring the most fulfillment to us. We think we know a better way.
And this rest God’s promises is real, just as real as His own rest once His work in creation had come to a conclusion. God rested. Are we better than He is, that we need to keep working, striving, competing?
He offers us rest. Just take it! Be obedient. Rest awaits.
The Arnold Journey 