Christian Living
November 28, 2011 – Resting or Perishing?
11 Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into which those in the wilderness fell]. – Hebrews 4:11 AMP
Hebrews can sometimes be a difficult Book to understand. I know we’ve all read the awesome passages from Chapter Eleven about faith. But after reading this verse, I was a little confused. But knowing that God is not the author of confusion, I went back into Chapter Four and read the whole Chapter. What is God’s rest?
3 For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest, in accordance with His declaration that those [who do not believe] should not enter when He said, As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest; and this He said although [His] works had been completed and prepared [and waiting for all who would believe] from the foundation of the world. – Hebrews 4:3 AMP
From this verse one can see that all who believe in God enter His rest. That seems pretty simple. If that is the case, then the eighty-three percent of people in the United States who claim Christianity as their religion have entered God’s rest. However, belief in this sense is more than just a confession. Belief in this sense is an adherence, trust, and reliance on God in every aspect of life. Do you fully rely on God? Do you trust Him? Do you follow His will for your life? Or are you the Christian who answered the poll and simply said you were a Christian? Do you live your life on your terms? Do you tell everyone at church about your faith, but only turn to Him when you are really desperate and need a miracle? God would not have any of us live life that way.
Like today’s verse says, we should strive diligently to enter God’s rest. We should exert ourselves and even be zealous to enter God’s rest. Only by doing that can we know and experience God’s rest for ourselves.
Experiencing God’s rest is something no one person can describe to another. The best preacher on the planet cannot describe it. I cannot describe it. There is no magical formula. For example, I can tell my sons how to be a godly husband and father. I do this by sharing my past successes as well as my many failures in both of these roles. I share these stories with hopes that they will emulate my triumphs and not repeat my disappointments. But they will never know about being a husband and father until they experience it for themselves. They will never truly understand the feelings and emotions of being a husband and father until they become one.
Our relationship with God is the same. We can tell people about our relationship with God until we’re blue in the face, but they will never know about it until they come to a relationship with God themselves. It is only when we are eager and persistently seek Him that we truly enter into His rest. When we are in that rest, there is peace in our life. Do you continually seek God? Are you always listening to Him? If not, you could be treading on thin ice.
For those who do not diligently seek God, you could run the risk of falling into unbelief and disobedience. The Israelites did not believe God could lead them to the Promised Land (Numbers 13). God in turn punished them and made them wander in the wilderness forty years. Are you wandering in the wilderness? Are you being disobedient to God? Do you believe God’s Word is completely true? Or do you use the Bible to meet your own ends, and simply overlook the rest as something meant for previous generations?
The fact is that we are living in very tumultuous times. Sound Biblical teaching is being forsaken for a fluffy, feel-good message (2 Timothy 4:3-4). People care more about sporting events than God and godly living (2 Timothy 3:4). Homosexuality runs rampant in society and has even infiltrated our churches, yet the church does nothing to teach these individuals about their sinful lifestyle (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). And Christians everywhere are failing to diligently seek God in their life (see today’s verse).
From personal experience I can say that finding God’s rest was the easiest yet one of the hardest things I have ever done. I was raised in church. I had perfect attendance pins for Sunday school year after year. But I had no relationship with Christ. As a husband and father I received my salvation. There was still a looming albatross in my life: I was living life my way and perishing every step of the way. Then one day, through all the difficulties, it hit me like a brick wall: God just wanted me to have as much enthusiasm for Him as I had for ungodly things in my life. I had unconfessed sin. I even had confessed sins I had not put down. After too many trials and countless hours of study, prayer, and seeking Him, I have come to the place of living in God’s rest.
What about you? Are you happy with your current life or do you know you are not living God’s way? Is your life uncompromised before God? Do believe God can give you rest? Do you want to enter His rest? Answers to such questions will undoubtedly shed light on your life and if you are truly resting or actually perishing.
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