Some Christians conduct their work as if they were practical atheists. This problem runs far deeper than failing to pray before work or as we work. This problem reveals the beliefs we hold about the deep structure of life. We work as if all success depends on us because, deep down, we are convinced that it does.
When we work harder and longer, it is not only because we believe that more work will earn greater wages or advancement. Deep down we believe that working harder somehow makes us personally more valuable, more worthy. Even in our relationship with God, we often have a sneaking suspicion that God values us for what we can do. Before you give yourself a pass in this area, briefly complete the sentence, “God loves me because…..”
Perhaps your answer included your love for God, or your service, or your faith, or your obedience. All good things, all pleasing to God, but they are not the reason He loves you. He loves you because He has chosen to, independent of any choice or action on your part. For no reason other than His character and will, God loves us.[1]
As long as we believe God values us for what we do, we will find it very difficult to see not doing something as a blessing. Most of us don’t see rest as a blessing; at best it is a necessary evil. When Jesus says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” [2] We believe that he is speaking to those who are “weak,” but not to us, the strong, the productive. We dismiss Jesus’ offer as something for “other people” who aren’t as productive, as valuable, as we are.
Our dismissal makes it very difficult for us to accept the rest God offers in Hebrews 4. In this chapter, the rest of God is offered as a gift for all the people of God, not just those who are weary and burdened. Hebrews 4:9 tells us, “There is a special rest still waiting for the people of God.”[3] This rest is not something we earn as a reward for hard work or special service. It is not the spiritual version of retirement at the end of a life of intensive service. In fact, those who enter God’s rest have ceased “their own labors.” [4] This makes it clear that God’s rest is not the end of work, but the end of our own work. God invites us to rest from working as if it all depends on us. Rest begins when we start to believe that it all depends on Him.
Our tendency toward over-work anxiety have the same source: deep down we don’t really believe that God can manage life without us. If we only work hard enough, if we just stress enough or worry enough, we can force life to turn out the way we want. When life goes badly, we believe the failure is ours. Our thinking betrays our practical atheism: we don’t believe that God is in control.
Hebrews 4 does not offer a life of ease; it offers a life of peace. God does not call us to a life without work, He calls us to a life where the results of the work we do depends entirely on God. Instead of doing our work our way and expecting Him to endorse our will, God invites us to join His work and embrace His will. Jesus is offering the very same thing in Matthew 11. He invites us to join His work. “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” [5] Using the image of two oxen in the same wooden yoke, Jesus says to us, “walk beside me, do my work with me and you will have peace in your soul.”
Only when we join in the work Jesus is doing, under His direction and with His strength, do we stop working as practical atheists. Only then can we begin to believe that success depends on God and not on us.
No comments:
Post a Comment