It seems counter-intuitive to think of the holy life as one of rest. Most often we associate spiritual discipline and long-suffering with the way of the holy life, and indeed, the holy life demands them. John Wesley once said,
Vain hope! that a child of Adam should every expect to see the kingdom of Christ and God without striving, without ‘agonizing’ first ‘to enter in at the strait gate! That the one who was ‘conceived and born in sin’, and whose ‘inward parts are very wickedness’, should once entertain the thought of being ‘purified as his Lord is pure’ unless he ‘tread in his steps’, and take up his cross daily’…
What strong words! How can we begin to reconcile these two realities? One the one hand the way of holiness is one of bearing a cross daily and the commitment to spiritual disciplines. On the other hand rest is at the center of the holy life. These two truths seem to contradict one another! The key to reconciling this paradox is understanding the role of the Holy Spirit in salvation as well as understanding the biblical concept of rest.
The biblical concept of rest is multi-dimensional. This is also true of our own modern understanding of rest. When we talk about “restlessness”, for example, there is a connotation of worry, or anxiety. I’m quite restless during take-off and landing when flying. I also get restless when it is time to preach! There’s a sense of nervousness or anxiety inherent to the idea of “restlessness”.
We can also talk about the need for proper physical rest. Our bodies need proper rest to regenerate. Our physical strength, like our spiritual strength, is limited. In this sense the word “rest” implies the absence of effort, or ceasing to work.
I used to be a server in a restaurant. In an average shift, I would walk approximately seven miles in my weaving in and out of tables, back and forth from the kitchen, delivering folks’ entrées and desserts. At the end of a shift, my back was sore and my dogs were barkin! My body needed to cease working and rest.
Thinking about rest this way helps us to see that rest is actually productive! It is during times of rest that our bodies work to restore. Only when we stop and relax do our bodies have the opportunity to do its work. This is kin to the spiritual rest that will become the center of our attention below. This is also one of the concepts at the heart of the Sabbath, which results as God’s command for us to honor Him with our rest (more on this below).
These are just two modern notions of rest. But what of the biblical concept of rest as pertains to holiness and the saving love of Jesus? There are two types of rest that correspond to the holy life. The first is directly associated with the alleviation of the desperate and continuous worry that characterizes the human life when lived in separation from God. The second, which we will consider in much more detail, is rest from striving in our own strength to please God or earn God’s favor. When we receive the gift of faith something supernatural happens. The Holy Spirit enters in and shares his strength with us. Much in the same vein as the concept of physical rest described above, it is in our weakness that the power of the Holy Spirit is poured out upon us. It is in our weakness that we are made strong (Romans 8:26; 2 Cor. 12:9 and 13:4).
