Tag: rest

Heavenly Promise: The Joy of Perfect Rest

One reality that every Christian faces on this side of heaven is our various limitations. We desire to love the Lord more, live wholly for him, become more like him, serve him more, rejoice in him more, and the list is endless. But sadly we are unable because our sin and weaknesses limit us. However, in glory, we will be able to love the Lord with the incorruptible love, live wholly for him, and praise and serve him forever. I was reminded of this truth as I read Charles Huddon Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening devotions. In his devotional entry of the evening of January 18 taken from Hebrews 4:9, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,” Spurgeon writes,

How different will be the state of the believer in heaven from what it is here! Here he is born to toil and suffer weariness, but in the land of the immortal, fatigue is never known. Anxious to serve his Master, he finds his strength unequal to his zeal: his constant cry is, “Help me to serve you, O my God.” If he be thoroughly active, he will have much labour; not too much for his will, but more than enough for his power, so that he will cry out, “I am not wearied of the labour, but I am wearied in it.” Ah! Christian, the hot day of weariness lasts not forever; the sun is nearing the horizon; it shall rise again with a brighter day than you have ever seen upon a land where they serve God day and night, and yet rest from their labours. Here, rest is but partial, there, it is perfect. Here, the Christian is always unsettled; he feels that he has not yet attained. There, all are at rest; they have attained the summit of the mountain; they have ascended to the bosom of their God. Higher they cannot go. Ah, toil-worn labourer, only think when you shall rest forever! Can you conceive it? It is a rest eternal; a rest that “remains.

From Holiday with Joy

Time of silence is now over and I have to get back to work right away.

I thank God for the great holiday I had.  For once this year, I had time to forget all the hurdles and challenges that come with work.  There was ample time to be there for the family more than before as my wife and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. We traveled around visiting places, friends and relatives. It was indeed time of refreshing.

I had also time to reflect on the journey I have traveled so far and also focus on the future. The joy from the Lord that comes with knowing that you are traveling on his appointed way assured me that I am not alone in His vineyard. He is ever with me.

As I thought about the future dream of serving Him further, my long-time forgotten hobby of poetry, suddenly, sprout up.  For first time in five years, I wrote this poem:

 

THE SWEET DREAM

The dream is sweet

I can’t wait for it

Sowing the seeds in pain

Knowing sweet fruits I will gain

 

Realistic about it I have to be

But from a far I can see

Many rivers are there to cross

For it can’t be realized without a cost

 

It will never be easy that I know

But by His grace I will still sow

His invisible hand will guide

The appointed doors will open wide

All in all, it was a great and refreshing vacation. Glory be to God who supplies everything we need in Christ Jesus. AMEN!

 

Hands Off: Time to Rest, Time of Silence

 

My theology professor in Bible college used to emphasize that when God created man, he gave him three major mandates: work, marriage, and rest. Man has to work. Man has to get married and by His grace raise a family. He has also to rest.

All of us are supposed to work for six days and rest on the seventh day (Sabbath). But there are times when the rest on the seventh day is not enough hence we require a special vacation of longer period.

For me, for this year, time has come to go on vacation. As the summer unleashes it’s heat on our land,  I will take time to reflect, refresh, evaluate and  reposition myself in His vineyard hence there will be silence on this blog for this period.

So, don’t wonder at the silence. It’s just time to rest and take my hands of the pen and nothing else. By His grace and will, I will return again.  Till then, may His grace be sufficient for us all, now and always.