Rest

"Martha, Martha," the Lord replied. "You are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42...."Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 45:10 In over 40 years of ministry, I've found that many know how to be active, but so few of us know how to be still. Still before and in Him. We seem to live our lives, even in the church, at breakneck speed. I remember years ago when a mother of one of the ladies in our church came to spend some time with her daughter's family. There was a day when she was asked to oversee and get all the children to their activities. She was overwhelmed by all the events and happenings they were involved with. Keeping up exhausted her. The pace in most families has only increased. We don't know how to be still even in the physical realm. It's much worse in the spiritual. Martha thought that the supreme dedication she could make for her Lord was to wear herself out in serving Him. Jesus said that the best part was found in sitting at His feet, abiding in Him. He didn't say that activity for Him was wrong, but He was saying that activity that didn't flow from a place of rest would only result in what Martha seemed to be experiencing; burnout. Burnout coupled with frustration, anger, and resentment. Any pastors or full time workers in the church know what I mean here. Burnout in pastors is a major problem in the church. Hundreds have left the ministry as a result. Most, if not all of it a result of never having first found a place of rest in Him from which to serve. Recently, a good pastor friend of mine in one of His writings said, "Come join me at the cross, and rest." We don't associate the cross with rest, at least not often. Yet, it really is a place of ultimate rest because at the cross, we must die out to all the things that ultimately are keeping us from His fullness. At the cross, His resurrected life pours into us, and flows out of us. We are not driven when we live at the foot of the cross, we are led. We die out to a life lived at breakneck speed. Our flesh will always resist this, which is why so many fight so hard against coming to the cross, and as a result never know what it is to be still in Him, and at rest. So, I extend to all who find themselves living more like Martha than Mary. Jesus loves our service, but He wills that it should flow from our place at His feet. Stop resisting that place. Learn what it is to be still. Learn what it is to come to cross....and find rest. Blessings, Pastor O