Restoration and faith

[joonoh]

It has been 18 months since our church plant. Including the 6 months of prayer meeting towards the launch, it has been 25 months of leading and launching different ministries. First issue that I overserve in my soul is the regular fatigue in my emotional statues and often physical statues. Second issue is that I am not resting fully on Sabbath(which I am sure is connected with the first) and third issue is that I pull towards to safety in my leadership and hesitant about making bold and risk prone decisions.

One of the primary purpose and instruction of the Sabbath is to keep it holy as our Lord is holy(Exo 20:8-10). The journey of the Sabbath is to sanctify ourselves. The means of the sanctification seems to differ as it reminds and reflects the true nature of sanctification. The means is our abiding, not producing is restorative. We are called to work out of our salvation or sanctification. However, the means of sanctification of lack of labor, our primary form of labor. Believing that God’s holiness is expressed in his rest on the seventh engraves the nature of His Holiness which is lovingkindness.

Rest if founded in faith just like every other sanctification of our soul. Neglecting this truth or the continual reminder of this to our soul on a regular bases, places our soul in a place of recreation or pursuit of physical rest driven my fear and insecurity. Therefore, the physical or emotional rest that is disconnected with spiritually rest which is not holistically restful. Without faith, Sabbath is not a blessing but rather a duty that is resisted.

Gospel is preached through the practice of rest. Laboring required to attain right standing before God has been completely finished in Christ. Jesus’s labor and sacrifice fully stratified God’s righteous demand of humanity. By believing in the full efficacy of His substitute work while fully acknowledging our inability of work to attain said righteousness, we are graced with the privileged of resting from our labors. No amount or kind of work can or will get us accepted or approved before God. We must and can only rest in the work He did for us.

However, Our labor is not in vain. Although it cannot achieve acceptance or approval from of God, we can be approved by for our labor. For that approval, we strive daily to delight in our God and bring pleasure to our God.