In “Christ in Us, the Hope of Glory,” Charity speaks to the unrest many of us are experiencing. With Christ in us, rest is always available as we are reminded of the hope of glory.
If you missed Charity’s previous post on identity from Colossians, you can read it here.
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me.
Colossians 1:27-29 ESV, emphasis added.
Hello world…
It’s been a while…
A lot has happened.
Hard things.
Good things.
Inconvenient things.
Frustrating things.
There seems to be no consistency to life right now. I know everyone feels it. Holidays are coming… but they are going to look different. Why? COVID…
Every person in this world has been affected by this phenomenon. It has dashed dreams, plundered plans, and altogether extinguished expectations.
Last year at this time, COVID was not on our radar. Now for the last 9 months, it hasn’t left it.
It has shaken our world, our church, our families, and our spirits. My heart feels exhausted with the constant changes and certain uncertainties. It is weary, weak, and worried. I plead to the Father for strength, but it is hard to continue fighting when rest seems unattainable.
Yes, my semester will end next week.
Yes, Keagan and I will be with family for the holidays, and it will be a joyous occasion.
Even amidst the joy of being reunited, God has made me extraordinarily aware of the fact that it won’t give me the rest my heart truly needs and longs for…
If I am living life from break to break, vacation to vacation, or holiday to holiday, thinking that those moments are where I find my rest, then I will be disappointed every time. God is the only one who can give true and lasting rest. Rest comes when we turn our eyes to the “hope of glory.”
Jesus is the One who will come back and conquer disease, death, brokenness, injustice, poverty, hunger and every other hurt caused by sin. That is the rest for which my heart longs. Yes, I can and do find sweet joy in my family and taking a break from daily life, but true rest comes when I fix my gaze on “the hope of glory.”
Fixing my eyes on my hope reminds me that Jesus is on His throne and will return one day. It reminds me that He knows my pain and feels my frustrations. It reminds me to fix my mind on the promises of Christ. Christ has not come yet and that is partially why our souls do not feel at rest here.
But did you know that God actually does want us to experience rest here and now?
It won’t be as full as it will be when Christ returns, but why would we not ask for all we are able to have until then? It takes work. We will literally have to retrain our thinking, living, and habitual patterns. It will not be easy, but these are sacrifices worth making if it means walking close with the Father.
Daily resting in God, living in the hope of Jesus takes practice.
It is a journey of good days and bad.
But getting mad at ourselves for failing only keeps us from resting in God.
Resting requires us to remember, be still, and slow down the pace of life. It requires us to care more about pursuing the presence of God than anything else.
Slowing down is no joke; it takes work. It is going to feel like you are letting some people down. However, if you aren’t taking time to be filled with God are you loving them as God intended or are you depending on them for security and worth? Slowing down requires us to say “no” sometimes and trust that God is still God even when we are absent from the world around us.
Remember, fight to rest in God. Ask God to give you His energy. Ask for His power to flow through you as you seek to rest in Him. Do not get discouraged. Do not give up. It takes time to break old habits of hurry, but hurry is not what God wants for His children. He desires you to rest in His loving embrace and to enjoy it.
Do not wait until COVID-19 is gone or the next break from everyday life to begin the daily practice of resting in God.
Friends, I need to be honest with you. God is convicting my heart that I have not been choosing to rest in Him. He sweetly is reminding me that I do not need to wait until break to rest in Him but that I can daily choose to rest by trusting in Christ, the hope of glory. I am still figuring out what resting looks like for me daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. I am trying different things to make rest a rhythm of my entire life not just a certain time-constricted portion of it.
I have good days and awful days.
But God is showing me the immensity of His grace and love by encouraging me to continue this journey of resting in His glorious presence. If I am open to His leading, He will take me deeper than I can imagine where I am free from every burden. It seems impossible but I serve the God of the Impossible. This is my prayer for you as well—rest, intimacy, and freedom in the Triune God.
Do not let COVID-19, hurry, shame, or guilt keep you from what Christ died for you to experience. Remember who God is and who He created you to be. Blameless and holy that is who He is and that is who He has made you and is making you to be. He will never give up on you so never give up on Him. It will all be worth it. Rest in His unfailing, steadfast, and eternal love.
May you find rest in the hope of glory—that is, Christ in you.
Author:
Hello! I’m the C to KC & Co! My name is Charity, and I am so excited you are checking out our site and blog. My deepest desire is that God will use the words on this blog to encourage, strengthen and deepen your love for Jesus. Read more of my writing here.
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