We’ve got your daily encouragement, written by Phil Woody.
Bible Reading:
Mark 6:31
“Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’”
Word:
Some theologians have come to the conclusion, by reading the accounts and patterns of Jesus that, If added up, Jesus spent more time getting away in solitude then he did with people. Hen why is it that we see the need for rest as weakness?
In CrossFit, I have started to realize how much more my need for rest is important if I want to perform at a high level in the gym. This is why we say that there is no such thing as over training, only under recovering. Could it be that the most valuable thing we could ever do for the others and the kingdom of Heaven is to seek Jesus in solitude and rest and reflection?
Have you ever stopped to really look at what your life is producing? If we were to take inventory, we would realize that what we produce is really a reproduction of what is within each of us. Luke says it this way, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
In a distracted world, little to no time is spent in quiet contemplation out of a heart at rest with Jesus. When our hearts are at rest in Jesus, we are not living out of any shame, or fear, or hurt. A heart at rest has allowed Jesus to speak his love and grace over all of these things so we are able to move to people out of a cleansed and restored heart. But if no time is spent in debrief with our savior, where his cleansing and renewing is released into our lives, then what is it we are reproducing.
Prayer:
Jesus, help us to find your rest his week. Help us to move not from a sense of responsibility that often feels like only burden, but from rest that feels like purpose. May we reproduce the same love your washing me in this week. In Jesus’ name, amen!
Skillwork:
Find his rest. Carve out time this week for unhurried time with Jesus. Do an inventory of your life. What is it you are reproducing? Don’t feel shame. This is for freedom and not shame. What is it your heart is living out of? Where is that coming from? Allow Jesus to speak his love and peace over this. Ask him to lead you to a new pattern of moving from rest over responsibility.
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