Letting go – a real Sabbath

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped …
~Philippians 2:6

Unlike Jesus, I am a person who keeps on grasping. I grasp onto every little thing that I can control, thinking that I know my best interests better than the sovereign God of the universe does. This was a realization that hit me especially hard at Fall Conference, and I am truly grateful and humbled.

Thus, I am going to commit to taking a weekly Sabbath. My prayer is that on this day I can truly rest in the Lord and keep his day holy, and that each week when this days come I can actually trust God with my time. Here are some guidelines I made – which are here to remind myself but not to be followed legalistically:

Things to do on Sabbath day

• Spend extra time alone in God’s presence.
• Turn off cell phone and computer.
• Get physical rest.
• Write a journal entry.
• Worship with genuine freedom and joy.
• Exercise and/or enjoy the outdoors.
• Read.
• Pray.

Things NOT to do on Sabbath day

• Do work.
• Worry about stuff I need to do.
• Feel guilty about things I am not doing.
• Make plans for the coming week.

Here is one quote that helped me think about this (from the second link above):

Sunday should not be trivial. It should be holy—set apart for God. A day in which we delight ourselves in the Lord in ways we can’t on other busy days. Many innocent and good things should probably be replaced with deeper things on the Lord’s day.

I am going to try to have my Sabbath on 5pm Friday to 5pm Saturday. I would prefer Sunday, but usually Sundays feel more physically draining than restful with church in the morning, leadership meeting at night, and schoolwork piling up. Pray that this practice would create in me a humble heart, a mind which is already mine in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5).

LOVE THIS

http://www.hymnary.org/

Free DG audiobook!

Desiring God is now free as an audiobook, compliments of ChristianAudio.com, for the month of November. I’m looking forward to spending more of my travel time in this book =)

The free PDF version of the book is still available of course too.

Restless.

An excerpt of a sermon by John Piper:

 

Be open to a significant change in your life.

Some of you know that God is making you restless where you are. You sense deeply that what you are doing now is not what you will be doing for long. Others of you need to think seriously about whether your present secure and established position maybe is not a path to security or an exit ramp to retirement, but a runway for taking off into something new in missions.

Here’s what happened to Saul and Barnabas. They are faithfully ministering to the church in Antioch. It is a fruitful ministry of teaching. Look at Acts 13:1-3.

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

So much for secure, stable, established life in Antioch. Barnabas and Saul are now thrust into global missions. They will blaze the trail into uncharted territory. This is not why either of them had gone to the church in Antioch. But God spoke, and they went.

Awkwardness

Too often, I am afraid, Christians allow the fear of awkwardness to hinder the progress of the gospel. I am not referring only to situations or interactions with non-believers, but also to interactions among the church itself. What is so scary about awkwardness? What is the root of such a fear?

The short answer of course is sin. I am looking forward to heaven where there will be no awkwardness in the church body, but all will be united and unashamed.

But I’d like to find a more complete answer, one that addresses the problem at the root, and perhaps may give insight on how to combat it. Please comment if you have any thoughts!!

 

On an unrelated note, in three hours I am leaving for Fall Conference! Prayers are appreciated =)