Can I make resting a way of life? If I have accepted ongoing trouble as a way of life too. You heard me right. I can make resting a way of life if I have accepted ongoing trouble, pressure, challenge, tension, stress as a way of life too.
Let me explain. Yesterday I was in a chat with a top Korean executive of a multi-billion tech company, a client, and we were talking about the impact of COVID-19, what else is bigger on the agenda these days, on his global business and my humble SME, small medium enterprise. One common conclusion, this crisis, this pandemic is far from over. And whether you are a micro, small, medium, large business, all of us are affected, right?
Different boat, same storm. And here's the catch. In spite of all this, we are all still called to lead, to produce results, to increase our bottom lines, to take care of our families and our co-workers. By the way, he's had 40% of his staff COVID positive in the past month.
And yes, to do it in such a way that we ourselves don't burn out. And so that includes rest, to take a break whether or not we are broken. Alan Cohen, there is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither.
Can I make resting a way of life if I have accepted ongoing trouble as a way of life too? Because if I have not, then my rest isn't reliable and certainly not sustainable. Hindi katatagal, pang-panandalian lang. Say it with me, a rest that can't be tested can't be trusted.
John 16.33, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace and rest. In this world you will have trouble. Okay, it's not you might, you may, probably, you will have, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Chuck Swindle adds to this, God never asked us to meet life's pressures and demands on our own terms or by relying upon our own strength.
Nor did he demand that we win his favor by assembling an impressive portfolio of good deeds. Instead, he invites us to enter his rest. There was a time in my life, I was thinking about entering rest. When was I in that state?
Well, I now recall. There was a time in my life when I had no care, no worries, no anxiousness. I had no issues with provision. I wasn't overstretched with responsibility.
I had no major relational problems. That was a great time. I think I was three years old. And the key figures, come on, stay with me.
Stay with me here. Behind that restful time, my dad and my mom. No surprise that when Jesus talks about the whys and who, who are key to our rest, whys, you know, the purpose is behind and the people or the person key to our rest. It's always the father, the father above.
Hebrews 4.9-11. There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
You got to enter it, guys. And can you make it a way of life? Not just a one-time thing. In the movie Lion King, when Rafiki asks Simba where he was headed after his encounter with his dad Mufasa in a dream, Simba excitedly answered, I'm going back.
And the word I'd like to stress here is my own. Simba excitedly. Not reluctantly, not in fear, not out of compliance. He was excited to go back.
And where was he going back to? Not a beautiful place, not a peaceful place, certainly not a restful place. He was going back to darkness. He was going back to hell.
And yet he was excited. Why? Because when the rest is established within, when he had found peace within him, in fact, when he had found himself once again in that conversation with his father, remembering who he was, he had already won the struggle within. And once you are at peace with yourself, at rest within, then it's just a matter of time.
You will win the battle on the outside. Revelations 21.4. The question is, can I make resting a way of life? The promise is for those who acknowledge him as Lord and Savior, it will be your way of life.
And God shall wipe all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former things have passed away. That, my dear friend, is ultimate rest. It's a Friday and we ask ourselves once again three questions on our theme this week, which is rest. Number one, what should you start doing so that you will encounter and experience more rest starting this weekend?
Is it to exercise? Is it to listen? Is it to just be, right? Start being a human being and not a human doing.
What is it something that you should stop doing? Is it a worry that you've been carrying for too long? Is it finding your worth in a longer to-do list? Is it finding your satisfaction in accomplishing more and more and more while enjoying it less and less and less?
And finally, what is it that you should continue doing? Maybe it's just to continue listening to The Daily Disturbance. Maybe it's to confess, right? As you do almost daily.
That's why you live, you know, a carefree in a sense, worry-free, burden-free life. Something you will start, something you will stop, something you will continue. Have a restful weekend.