Strive to Enter Rest (Heb 4:9-11)

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience - Hebrews 4:9-11

There is a divine tension in the Christian life between resting and striving.

On one hand, it seems sensible that we can apply the principle from Ecclesiastes 3 - For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

Simply put, there is a time for striving and a time for resting. A time for working and a time for relaxing. And while this is certainly true at some level, the Christian revelation takes us deeper.

Outside of Christ, there will always be a dichotomy between rest and work. But in Christ, there is the opportunity for the two to become one.

For a moment, think of the Spirit like a river. Every river has a current which flows a certain direction. If we want to go against that current, we have to work very hard to fight it. If we stop to rest, we will find ourselves drifting away from our goal.

However, if we aim to move with the current of the river, then anytime we choose to rest, we will still find ourselves moving toward our goal, because the river is carrying us there.

It is an imperfect analogy, but the point is that when we surrender our will to God's will, we have an unstoppable force behind us propelling us to where we are aiming to go.

This doesn't mean that we don't work hard or apply effort, but it does mean that there is a qualitative difference between unaided human effort, and effort backed by God's grace. Our efforts should not be directed mainly toward outward accomplishment, but toward inward awareness of our union with Christ.

When we reach a point where we truly see our source of rest as being Christ alone, then it matters very little what our physical bodies are doing. If we can learn to shift our focus within to the indwelling Spirit of Peace, we will find an inexhaustible source of rest not only for our own souls, but also for the souls of everyone around us.

Acquire the Spirit of Peace, and thousands around you will be saved.

St Seraphim of Sarov