Forever-Awareness Part One

“Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, ‘You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess.’” (Joshua 13:1 ESV)

We will leave things unfinished. On our last day here we may not make our bed or kiss our children. The shoes we slipped out of that morning may lie next to the back door waiting to hold our feet again. Our families will find grocery lists, to-do’s, and recipes in our handwriting; confounded by the interruption, their shoulders will stoop and their heads shake.

But this has always been the plan, that we will be on this earth, as it is and we are now, temporarily. It’s not that we don’t know that. We know it well. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be in such a hurry. We wouldn’t hurry through the day’s chores to leave time for reading or watching television. We wouldn’t graduate early, so we can hurry to advance our career so we can hurry and make more money, so we can retire early leaving more time for the things we enjoy. We wouldn’t hurry home from work, make a 30 minute meal, tuck the kids in with a quick kiss so we can find time to stop moving, close our eyes, complete a thought. It’s been the pattern our whole lives - - rushing to find rest.

Hebrews 4:11 offers a different perspective: “Let us therefore strive to enter that

rest . . .” (ESV) Striving is not rushing. “That rest” is not the same as our old-earth idea of rest and entering is not the same as forcing our way in.

In striving we are focused, purposed toward a particular end; we are on a quest.  God sent ancient Israel on a quest to enter a place where they would be free, fed - - home. Instead, they rushed toward daily relief, crying out for things they thought would soothe: meat, bread, water, idols of gold. God gave meat, bread, water, and Himself, but their angst continued and they came to their end teetering on rest’s precipice. They were acting like their oppressor, pleading for an end to every plague, promising obedience in return for relief. Yet when each cause of suffering lifted, their hearts, like the Egyptian king’s, turned to stone. Their idea of rest wasn’t nearly as grand as it should’ve been.

We enter. We don’t invade or invent God’s rest. Repeatedly God told Joshua that His people were to enter the land that He had given them. It didn’t look like He’d given them the land - - there were other people living there who seemed intent on staying. Maybe they couldn’t picture this land as theirs. Maybe, like Heaven, it seemed out of reach, too-good-to-be-true, undeserved. Maybe it seemed that way because, like Heaven, it was out of reach and too-good-to-be-true, and undeserved. Yet God said it was theirs and told them to enter.

The rest offered by God is not the end of our work day, a winter in Florida, or a quiet evening with a good book. Sin follows us to all of those places making the “rest” they provide not just temporary, but counterfeit. God’s rest is forever because in His rest we will no longer be sinful or be victimized by the sin of others. We will never have a thought that causes worry, never be irritated, never store up bitterness, and never cause another person pain or sorrow. We won’t be lazy, selfish, unkind; we will delight in God, in the person He’s made us to be, in all the people around us, and in our permanent home.

So how do we strive to rest?  I think striving, for the believer, is a sort of forever-awareness; a ceaseless prayer. In every moment, conversation, daily chore; in every inhalation and exhalation we have to find eternity. Created eternal beings, our never-ending journey began in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. From the start of everything God knew our names, the gifts He would bestow, and the good works that we would complete. We aren’t meant to find rest in employment, or retirement; in our children or current state of health; in our old-earth abodes or growing bank accounts. In everything - - all of those things, we are meant to find the one who withholds no good thing from us - - we are meant to find Christ. “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3 ESV)

So we will exit this earth. We will, like Joshua, leave things unfinished, but we will never be done - - there is still a land for us; an imperishable inheritance and life - - always life. Our exit from here will be our entrance there. It will be an interruption in our relationships with fellow believers as we move to Heaven, but not an interruption in our lives. We are without end. That, according to Scripture, is our reality. So take a deep breath and slow down a little. In Christ, you have all the time you need.