Time to rest

It is nearly Christmas and the advantage of being a teacher is that I get 2 weeks off work! This is an amazing opportunity to go somewhere nice, to spend time with family, to have time for one's self! I have chosen to come to Bali this Christmas, even though I would've loved to spend it somewhere with snow... Bali is wonderful, don't get me wrong, I am enjoying it!

I was talking to Maite last night about rest and we were questioning whether it's a good thing to spend 2 weeks doing nothing too productive in a place like Bali (which seems like heaven on earth). I did point out that our bodies need rest, we need to get away from the busy life at work, from the craziness of the city and that it is important for us to rest; the way I see it is that I am honouring God with my body, by taking care of it (therefore the previous post).

I've been reading a bit about rest this morning and I am going to post it below; these are not my words... they are Jodi Schumm's words.

“Sit down!” I ordered my 2-year-old. He walked across the bathtub and grabbed more toys before obeying me.

I wanted Brock to enjoy playing in the tub; I just didn’t want him hurt trying to get toys on his own. He needed my help.

For a while, he pushed his little boats. Then he stood up again.

“Sit down!” I repeated. “If you stand in the tub again, you’ll have to get out.”

“But,” Brock stated, quite proud of himself, “I’m Jesus, and I’m walking on the water!”

At times we try to do things on our own. Like Brock when he grabbed his toys, we follow our plan without realizing the dangers of our independence.

God, a father who watches over his children, sees our need for his help. And he tells us to “sit down” with the biblical commands to rest.

Resistance to rest

Even as adults, we don’t like to rest. We try to complete our to-do list without God because we think resting will delay our productivity.

Instead of resting, we try harder and work longer. Yet even work we enjoy becomes burdensome when we don’t take time to rest.

God’s people rested one day each week in Old Testament times.

We don’t live under Old Testament laws, since Jesus’ death on the cross offers us the grace of the New Testament.

Some people use that as a reason to resist resting. Yet God’s view of rest is not just an Old Testament command. The New Testament also instructs us to give our burdens to God so we can enjoy rest.

A time of rest is a time to set aside distractions and focus on God. Resting is relying on God’s help to accomplish our task in his time.

When looking at how and why we rest, Keri Wyatt Kent’s book “Breathe” states, “If I gave you three easy steps, you would miss out on experiencing God’s guidance for yourself.”

Keri is right. Our focus shouldn’t be on following someone’s instructions on what rest should look like in our lives.

Our focus should be on what God tells us about rest through his word.

Resting ‘how-to’s

Jesus said that rest is not just a spiritual exercise – it is a gift: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 NIV)

Resting in him is not a reward for accomplishing our tasks or something we enjoy when the holiday season is behind us. It’s a gift he wants to give us today.

When we recognize resting is a gift from God, we’re more willing to enjoy it without the guilt of feeling lazy.

Jesus’ discussion on rest revealed that it is not the same as being idle: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29 NIV)

Rest is more than just enjoying a time of relaxation. Taking his yoke means we trust God with our burden so we can enjoy doing what he calls us to do. 2 Thessalonians 1:11b states: “and we pray that God, by his power, will fulfill all your good intentions and faithful deeds.”

Relying on God’s wisdom and power to complete tasks removes the sense that work is a burden. We realize that the results of our efforts are in God’s control.

Finally, resting is learning from Jesus’ example. Jesus was busy with an important to-do list that included healing the sick and feeding the hungry. Yet he rested regularly: “Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place” (Mark 1:35 NIV); “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountain to pray” (Luke 6:12 NIV).

The world didn’t fall apart when Jesus rested, even though he created it. Our world won’t fall apart when we rest, either.

As we obey God’s instruction to rest, our responsibilities will not change but our spirits will be transformed. Like Brock, we can act like “I’m Jesus” and face our responsibilities on our own. Or, we can obey God and become more like Jesus by resting.

HONOR GOD WITH YOUR BODY

The next time you sit down to a thick, juicy steak dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy , white rolls and butter, and homemade apple pie, ask yourself this question: Am I honoring God with my body? When you run to the store late at night for your favorite flavor of Haagen Dazs, ask yourself this question: Am I bringing glory to God with my body? When you get to the bottom of a new bag of Ruffles while watching the tube, ask yourself this question: Am I worshipping God with my body?

What does it mean to honor God with our bodies?

"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. 6:19,20 NKJ)

Most Christians know and believe that fornication and adultery are out with God. We usually agree that illegal drug use is a sin. Drunkenness and pornography are routinely condemned by the church. Why? Because these things go against Scripture and are harmful to human beings.

Is it possible to sin, or fail to please God in our eating?

A while back, I heard a Christian make this comment: "We don't smoke, drink, or fornicate, so all we have is eating." Since then, I have often heard the same sentiment, usually from overweight believers. Some people even laugh about the way they themselves or other believers eat, thinking it's funny. We, as Christians, proudly put off the heinous sins of the world and think of ourselves as righteous, while in private (and some feel no shame doing it openly) we'll eat an entire box of doughnuts, or whatever, and pack on the pounds. We sit down to meal after meal after meal, snack after snack after snack, eating in ignorance, or to the contrary, in absolute rebellion.

Consider theses tidbits:

• The average American carries 8 pounds of material on the walls of his colon due to the foods he eats.
• Fatty deposits that lead to atherosclerosis are being found today in 3 year olds.
• Many, if not most, sicknesses and diseases, including mental and emotional problems are, directly or indirectly, caused or exacerbated by poor diet.
• Healthy or so-called "diet" foods often contain ingredients more harmful to health than the foods they are meant to replace.

"For you once were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. (Eph. 5:8,9 NIV)

It's up to us as individuals to find out what the best, most healthful way to eat is and then do it. Don't wait until your pastor tells you to change. He might not ever do it. But God has made it plain in His Word.

I've had people tell me that God doesn't care what we eat, so long as we are moderate, so long as we don't get too fat. What is too fat anyway? Ten pounds, 20 pounds, 100 pounds overweight? What is moderation? How can you set the limit, when it takes sometimes years for certain foods to have their full impact on health? Most disease takes long enough to develop that the connection to diet is lost or overlooked.

Why does God care about what and how much we eat? Because He's mean and He doesn't want us to enjoy anything? No, because He has a plan for your life, and you need to be fit and full of energy to perform it. And you need to be alive. You can't serve the Lord on the earth from an early grave. You won't do all you could for Christ from your sickbed or sleeping off the sugar blues. You won't serve the Lord to full capacity if you're too ashamed of yourself to minister to others. Our health is vitally important to God. Christians, more than any other people, need to eat to live, not live to eat.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship." (Rom. 12:1 NIV)

Eating right, like doing anything else right, involves sacrifice. But, as we know, sacrifice is a necessary part of the Christian life. Remember the supreme sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, who "for the joy set before Him endured the cross." If we will but follow the example of our Savior, and focus on the joy--the joy of a long, healthy life, the joy of the security we can offer our loved ones, the joy of helping others and touching many, many people's lives, and the joy Paul described in 2 Timothy 4:7: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." --then we will find the changes much easier to make and stick with.

Now don't come under condemnation and make a mountain of new rules for yourself that you can't live up to. Some of us know very little about health and good nutrition or have attitudes surrounding eating that need uprooting. Many of us have flesh that has been out of control for a very long time, and it's going to take time and diligence to reign it in. Change is often synonymous with process. First, make a commitment to learn and to grow. Then ask God to show you what you need to do, or stop doing, and to give you the willingness and strength to perform it.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Cor. 10:31 NIV)

This was taken from http://www.livrite.com/nc/honor.htm;

Qatar 2022

Yesterday became a historical day for Qatar. They have won the bid to host the World Cup in 2022. As I turned my computer on in the morning I was surprised to see that google had this image on!! Well done!!

When I arrived in August there were sign everywhere, big posters with the logo "support Qatar's bid for 2022"; I didn't pay too much attention to it at that point. It wasn't until I actually put a sticker on my car that says: "I support Qatar's bid for 2022" that I got in the spirit of the whole thing.

The emir and his wife, the sheikha were thrilled!!

2022 is in 12 years from now - I asked myself where will I be in 12 years?? Definitely not in Qatar anymore, though it would be fun to experience the world cup here. Who knows, maybe I will come back! :)

Anyway, it is quite amazing that I got to experience history yesterday, even though I was in my flat - I could still hear the honking and the excitement of all the people. The interesting thing was that the people honking and cheering were not Qatari - most of the population here is expats, but we all felt happy for the nation that is hosting us! We all hoped they will win the bid and it was nice to see so many people, from so many countries rejoicing for one thing!