Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father grab ahold of us as the holiday season begins to raise up in front of us like a tidal wave. Father, there is so much to do, so much to keep track of. Please help us not to forget you in our thoughts, our words, and our actions during this season. May we keep your will firmly set in our mind's eye, anchored within our well-spring heart. Father, in the name of your son Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, he who lives within us, help us to rest in who you are during this season of rushing about. May we live each day out of rested hearts and minds, ready to love each other and please you.
Your Morning Song: "Song In My Soul" by Phil Wickham
Your Monday Morning Sermon Recap: Mark 2:27-28
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man,
not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
...
Do you hear it? Do you smell it? Need a jacket yet? The holiday season is coming. So much so that we could quote Jesus here, "The hour is coming and has now come." Tis the season.
And with the holiday season comes, "more." More of what? Everything. Our lives seem to fill up with more to do, more to attend, more to keep track of, more to plan for, more, more, more. And our time between things to do shrinks. Our emotional and spiritual margins shrink. Our prayer time shortens or skips a day or two. Instead of chewing and digesting God's word that is more than bread, perhaps we just pop in a proverb like a pill, hoping it will help.
Tis the season to rush. And what does God have to say to this? Does he try to remind you not to forget to add church to that checklist? Does he demand that you pray more, read more, fellowship more, volunteer more, tithe more?
No. God's answer to your rush is his rest.
Our Sabbath, which for us is Sunday, was given to us for our rest. God wants us to rest, together, with him. Our Sundays ought to be built around setting aside checklists, and embracing relationships, with God, and with each other. Our Sundays should be about enjoying the blessings that God has given us and thanking him for them. And on the other days beyond Sunday, prayer, reading the bible, fellowshipping with each other, should all be sources of rest amidst our rush.
We must make Sundays and all of the smaller moments and ways in the other days about embracing God's offer of divine rest with him. And from out of a rested inner person, we ought to live as rested people, calm in the storm, steady, content, at peace.
Pursue God's offered rest and live as one who is rested, rejoicing throughout the holidays that were made for rejoicing. Or don't rest, get more done, and enjoy none of it.
Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath, calls us to rest with him, our Father, and the Spirit. What a life-giving invitation to accept!
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