October 6 - Matthew 11-12: Justifying My Existence

I just returned from spending the day on a high school field trip to the local art museum.  It really was an enjoyable experience (excepting the bus ride!) and I found it fascinating to observe 15-year-olds trying to find their place in life, in society, and even in their own skin.  Although they were given plenty of time to absorb and reflect on the masterpieces, they wouldn't allow themselves to detach from their cell phones, their assignment, or the activities of their peers. In many ways, these three components - social media, homework, and friends - justify who they are or who they are becoming.  The compulsion to constantly be in touch with these gives meaning to their existence.  It's the hamster wheel of adolescence.

Truth is,  as much as I would have liked to, I couldn't sit on a bench and get lost in the works of art, either.   I had a voicemail that needed attention, I wasn't sure where one kid had wandered off to, and my mind was tired.  After awhile, I just zoned out, too tired to soak in the presence of greatness.  The hamster wheel of middle age.

Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you'll recover your life.  I'll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.  (11:28-30)

When you read these verses did you, like me, find yourself nodding your head?  Tired?  Yes.  Worn out?  Yes.  Burned out?  Yes.  And it's not like I don't know these verses, haven't heard them quoted from the NIV numerous times and misused on even more occasions.  But, how do they fit with raising three kids, never having enough money in the budget, and more on the to-do list than can be accomplished in a lifetime?  More importantly, how do they fit with Matthew 10 - "go to the lost...don't call attention to yourselves...[people] are going to turn on you...proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate!...don't quit...don't be intimidated...don't think I've come to make life cozy"?

Rest and while you're resting, do all these really difficult things too.  I'm obviously missing something because Jesus seems to be talking out of both sides of His mouth and I know that is not who He is.  Once again, Tim Keller is helping my understanding of Jesus' call:

"When Jesus calls you to rest, he is calling you to take time off - physical and mental time off from work on a regular basis.  But there's another level of rest, a deeper level.... A different reason to rest is to be so satisifed with your work, so utterly satisifed, that you can leave it alone.  Only when you can say about your work, 'I'm so happy with is, so satisfied - it is finished!' can you walk away.  When God finished creating the world, he said, 'It is good.'  He rested.

"The movie Chariots of Fire was based on the true story of two Olympians in the Paris competition of 1924.  One of them, Eric Liddell, was a Christian, and he refused to run on the Sabbath.....At one level, taking a day off for rest is what the movie is about.  But the movie added another level and contrasted Harold Abrahams with Liddell.  Abrahams and Liddell were both trying very hard to win gold medals.  But Abrahams was doing it out of a need to prove himself....  Liddell, on the other hand, simply wanted to please the God who had already accepted him.... Harold Abrahams was weary even when he rested, and Eric Liddell was rested even when he was exerting himself.  Why?  Because there's a work underneath our work that we really need rest from.  It's the work of self-justification.  It's the work that often leads us to take refuge in religion.

"Most of us work and work trying to prove ourselves, to convince God, others, and ourselves that we're good people.  That work is never over unless we rest in the gospel.... On the cross Jesus was saying of the work underneath your work - the thing that makes you truly weary, this need to prove yourself because who you are and what you do are never good enough - that it is finished.  He has lived the life you should have lived, he has died the death you should have died.  If you rely on Jesus' finished work, you know that God is satisfied with you.  You can be satisfied with life....

"You can take all the vacations in the world, but if you don't have the deep rest of the soul, resting in what Jesus did on the cross, you will not truly rest.  On the cross Jesus experienced the restlessness of separation from God so that we can have the deep rest of knowing that he loves us and our sins have been forgiven."  (King's Cross)

He is the true rest that He is calling me to, the restoration of my life, the unforced rhythm of grace.  I don't need to justify my life.  He already did it on the cross.