A Multitude of Pauses

What's your view on waiting? Do you enjoy it? Do you look forward to it? Yesiree, I can't wait to wait! Not. People generally don't like waiting. Just the idea of having to wait can prevent us from going somewhere good. We don't want to wait in line, we don't want to waste our time. 

Yet waiting is a core piece of the Christian life, and always leads to something good when God is who we're waiting for. And though He knows we get tired of waiting for Him, His antidote for tiredness is to wait! "Those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31).

This practice of waiting for God is meant to be an encouraging constant in our lives. The word "wait" in the Hebrew language means more than our anemic North American idea of waiting. It means to look forward to something eagerly and expectantly. It means "enduring patiently in confident hope that God will decisively act" on behalf of His people (source).

But what makes waiting so unattractive is when it goes on and on and on! And that's often the kind of waiting the Bible speaks about as His people waited decades for deliverance from Babylon, or for centuries for deliverance from Egypt, or even for millenia for the Messiah to come. Like Abraham, I've waited 25 years for a promise to be fulfilled.

And it's because waiting so long can just feel impossible that I make it my aim to wait for God in smaller doses. I can do this by stopping regularly - repeatedly - in the midst of my routines to wait, and to lean in and listen, all with a focus on a gracious God who loves me. All I need to do is to pause...  ...pause in my pursuits and look up, asking God for wisdom, patience or strength. The more I learn to practice such pauses, the more strength I gain, the more wisdom I glean and the more I sense God's presence.

All these minor pauses add up to a lifestyle of waiting for God that makes a long wait seem less wearisome as we repeatedly draw on the strength God supplies every time we stop to lean on Him. So if waiting for God is growing tiring, break it up a bit, and do it many times a day. You'll gain "new strength" every time.

© 2014 by Ken Peters

Go ahead. Take it easy.

What would you say to a weary saint who simply longed for life to be easy? It almost seems like that's a bad word among serious Christians! After all, Jesus worked so hard, and the apostle Paul worked so hard. There must be something wrong with the idea of "easy." And with phrases like "count the cost" and "carry your cross," we obviously don't associate the Christian life with the word "easy." We speak of endurance amidst warfare and of labourers in the harvest fields. Easy?! No Christian should settle for easy!

And yet, Jesus said that "My yoke is easy" and to "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me" (Matthew 11:28-30). Did Jesus actually use the word "easy"? Yes, and He also called Himself "the Good Shepherd" (John 10:11) knowing that King David had already declared that "The LORD is my shepherd" and that "He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul" (Psalm 23:1-3a).

You want easy? Come to Jesus. (There's something you don't hear too often!) And Jesus tells us that the key to the yoke that's "easy" is that it is only possible as we "learn from" Him. This means being in the yoke with Him, spending time with Him, and I suggest that it also means that Jesus is inviting us to have a seat with Him where He is seated! Jesus is saying to each of us, "C'mon up here and sit and stay awhile! Have a seat with Me."

When Paul wrote that God "raised us up with Him [Jesus], and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6), he fully expected us to embrace the posture of one who is personally seated together with Jesus in heaven. And from that posture, we learn from Jesus how to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called" (Eph. 4:1) and how to "stand firm against the schemes of the devil" (Eph. 6:11). But it all begins with the wondrous ease of being seated with Jesus. 

Watchman Nee, in his wonderful book "Sit, Walk, Stand", wrote that "There is no limit to the grace God is willing to bestow upon us. He will give us everything, but we can receive none of it except as we rest in Him. 'Sitting' is an attitude of rest." Nee marvels at the paradox that the only way to advance as a Christian is to sit down!

In other words, the Kingdom of God is such that we don't work hard so that we can sit and rest, but we are seated so that we can accomplish more. "For Christianity begins not with a big DO, but with a big DONE... we are invited at the very outset to sit down and enjoy what God has done for us" (Nee).

So in answer to my initial question above, I'd be inclined to say, "No problem! There's a beautiful comfy chair waiting for you right here beside Jesus. Please: sit down with Him, and take it easy."

© 2014 by Ken Peters

The Path to True Rest

As Christmas approaches, I'm really looking forward to having a few extra days off from work. I've outgrown the anticipation of gifts, but in its place is a craving for calm -- a time to dial down and relax. But I'm all too aware from past experience that such rest can be elusive, even when my schedule is emptied. And I also know it's possible to end a holiday break as weary as the day it began, even if I do very little during that break. I think that's because I'm seeking external rest when what I really need is internal rest. I'm resting my body while my heart remains restless.

And as I was reading the Letter to the Hebrews in my Bible this month, I think I began to understand the path to the kind of rest I really need. In Hebrews 4, the writer mentions "the promise of entering His rest" (4:1), and assures us that that promise still stands. But then he issues a warning about the rest God promises us: "let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it." That's a valid warning, because in my harried and weary state, I sometimes wonder if I'm failing to reach that wonderful rest God promises, and such uncertainty only adds to the disquiet in my soul. So what to do?

It was only when I noticed what the writer had just been writing about in the previous chapter that I realized the kind of rest he was meaning, and saw how I could remain in the deep, meaningful rest God promises. Just a few verses earlier, in Hebrews 3:12, there is another warning issued: "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God." That's a serious warning. And six verses later, referring to God's posture toward the children of Israel, it says, "And to whom did he swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to to enter because of unbelief" (3:18-19). In other words, the evil of unbelief in their hearts robbed God's people of God's rest.

Does that same warning apply to me? And is it possible to have a whole sabbatical (let alone a brief Christmas break), and still not feel at rest at the end of it all if one doesn't heed such a warning? Well, as the writer continues and addresses the Christians he was writing to, he says, "Since therefore it remains for some to enter it [God's rest], and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience [the disobedience of unbelief], again He appoints a certain day, 'Today,' saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden you hearts.'... So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God... Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience" (4:6-11). That "same sort of disobedience" he's writing about was the disobedience of unbelief that he'd previously mentioned (in 3:18-19). And that hardening of their hearts is also a reference to what we're doing when we walk in unbelief.

This means that true rest -- the "rest" God promises -- the rest my soul continually craves -- is something we can only find by believing God. Because if the sin of unbelief is what prevented God's people from entering His rest, it only seems fair to say that the virtue of believing God will open the door to God's rest. In fact, I wonder if it's fair to say that believing God is the "rest" God promises in Hebrews 4:1. Believing God is rest for our souls. And we lose that rest every single time we fall into unbelief.

So as I long for rest and refreshment during this Christmas season, I'd be wise to note that the surest way to find rest for my soul is to take God at His Word, to trust His promises, to accept His instructions and to walk in His ways because I believe His will to be "good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2). That's rest. That's freedom from the pain of trying to get things done my way.

And as I've pondered all this, I was alarmed at the thought of how easily unbelief can creep into my heart and rob me of the rest of believing God. The antidote is to attack unbelief wherever I see it in my life -- to turn from it quickly, and by God's grace, to grab that door-handle of believing God so that I can enter His rest as easily as stepping into a room full of God's promises. Now that sounds like Christmas!

© 2010 by Ken Peters

Work or Worship?

September has been a busy month for me. Crazy busy. Sometimes life's like that. Busy, busy, busy. And it's times like this when my Christian walk feels more like a frantic sprint. But before I assess this past month with too much disdain, I need to remind myself that Jesus did lament the desperate need in His Father's harvest for labourors -- that is, hard workers (Matthew 9:37-38). And Jesus was such a hard worker that He said His "food" was to accomplish the "work" of His Father (John 4:34) and that "My Father is working until now, and I am working" (John 5:17). In other words, God sees great need for work to be done and wants us to be working too.

But that doesn't mean God spends His time scanning the earth searching for workers. That would be like God looking down here and saying, "Ah yes, there's someone who could probably put in a good effort. He looks good and strong for all the hard work I've got to get done." Instead, Jesus specifies (in the same context in which He says His food is to do God's work) that God is looking for someone else: "the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him" (John 4:23). The latter part of that verse is typically lost in the shadow of the more famous phrase mentioned at the beginning of the verse. Yet the end of that verse is absolutely vital. The verse begins with Jesus defining true worship, but then He explicitly states who God is looking for as He scans the earth: God is searching for worshipers. God is looking down here saying, "Ah yes, there's someone who's heart is completely Mine. I will give her the strength to do great works in My name!" (see 2 Chronicles 16:9).

But with Jesus' great emphasis on working, as well as stating that the Father is searching for true worshipers, is it fair to say one is more important than the other? After all, isn't it true that our worship of God and our work for God are so closely intertwined that they're meant to appear indistinguishable? In other words, can I be a true worshiper of God if I'm unwilling to be a worker for Him? And can I even say I'm a worker for the Lord if I neglect to be a worshiper? To truly be one means I must truly be the other. Which would mean that a worker who worships is as valuable to God as a worshiper who works, right? And it is that very question that causes me to hesitate to equate these two characteristics of a follower of Christ because it fails to clarify the order in which I came to be both a worshiper and a worker -- and that is what I think Jesus was stressing when He said that the Father is seeking true worshipers.

Worshiping God must precede working for God. It must be so or we'll end up working in our own strength for the dim glow of our own glory eventually becoming a hard-hearted Pharisee who's forgotten the One we're working for! That's why God is seeking worshipers, whom He will then make into workers according to His strength working in us and through us (Colossians 1:29). He wants our hearts before we offer Him our hands. I'm sure that's why Jesus told Martha that her sister Mary had "chosen what is better" (Luke 10:42, NIV) when Mary chose to sit listening at Jesus' feet rather than to be so distracted by busyness.

So I now need to ask myself why I've been so busy. Is it because I'm busy working at all the things that the God I love and adore -- and listen so carefully to -- and receive all my strength from -- has asked me to do? Or is it because I think I need to work this hard for God in order to win His approval -- perhaps because I haven't found it easy to draw near to Him in worship amidst all my self-imposed busyness? And if God is seeking worshipers, what will He find in me when He finds me busily serving Him so hard?  Yikes. The answer will be in whatever the posture of my heart is as I serve Him with my hands: a worshiper of God who has become a worker for His God.

© 2010 by Ken Peters

Pithometer / pith’-ō-mē-tər / (n) : an instrument for assessing pithy remarks. Today’s remark: “We’re human beings, not human doings!”

I’ve heard it said – and I think I’ve said it myself – that we are human beings, not human doings. That little phrase is usually mentioned when someone feels they’re experiencing a sense of drivenness in their activities and tasks. Among Christians, it’s a cry from those who feel they’ve lost their sense of rest in God – as though they’re only finding joy in what they do for Him rather than from who they are in Christ.

I have absolutely no difficulty understanding what it’s like to get caught up in the momentum of busyness as though I were mistakenly measuring my significance by what I do. As a Christian, I’ve made the futile mistake of trying to do stuff in an effort to better be in Christ. But the Bible clearly indicates that there’s a proper order for such things. We’re to be in Christ so that we can then do what He calls us to! But I’m still uneasy with addressing such struggles by saying, “We’re human beings, not human doings.”

I think that’s because, rather than setting an order to things, this pithy remark forces me to choose between two valid aspects of the Christian life. Not only that, but it complicates my choice by using terminology that makes the latter option sound ridiculous. Of course I’m not a “human doing.” But rejecting that label then suggests a rejection of, or at the very least, a minimization of the idea of doing.

Doing, though, is an essential part of the Christian life. Without doing, we can’t even call ourselves Christians! Jesus asked, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46). Jesus later said, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21). Jesus is big on believing in who He is and on knowing Him in a personal way. But He is also not afraid to demand obedience of those who say they know Him.

Other writers of the New Testament obviously felt the same. In writing to the church in Thessalonica, Paul said, “And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command” (2 Thessalonians 3:4). Notice Paul didn’t say, “…that you are being and will be...” It’s not that Paul didn’t care about them being in Christ. In the very next sentence, Paul directs his readers to the “steadfastness of Christ” because he knew that it was only by being in Jesus that they would have the strength to obey. But Paul also knew that if who they were in Christ wasn’t expressed by their actions – by doing – then who they claimed to be in Christ wouldn’t be genuine. James warns us to: “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22).

So let’s dispense with the unnecessary polarization of two vital virtues that are actually meant to go together, in the right order, rather than pitted against each other. As Paul said: “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved [start with being], put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience [continue with doing]” (Colossians 3:12).

See what I’ve previously written on being.

See what I’ve previously written on doing.

© 2009 by Ken Peters

Coming to a Complete Stop

Recently, I got a rather expensive traffic ticket. It had been nearly a decade since I’d last received a ticket of any kind, and on that occasion, it had come with such a clear word from the Lord, that I literally received it with rejoicing! So I was keen to discern whether or not God was again trying to get my attention through His servants of the law enforcement community.

The ticket was at an intersection I typically drive through 4-6 times a day, and I have never previously seen the police monitoring that intersection (and never since). But on that day they were watching, and I was nabbed for failing to come to a complete stop at a 4-way stop sign. I slowed down, but I was in such a hurry that I rolled through without bothering to stop.

It didn’t take much thought to connect this experience with what I had already been feeling rather convicted about lately. My desire is to spend devotional time with the Lord every day. But life is busy, and though the needs I deal with require the wisdom and grace of God, I must confess that I’ve neglected my devotional time with God amidst the many needs that come my way. This is the opposite of what Jesus did. Luke 5:15 tells us that as “news about Him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses”, verse 16 says “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

Jesus was in far greater demand than I am, and yet He still found time to spend with His Father. And if the Son of God needs time in prayer to cope with the pressing demands of life, I most certainly do! But this fall, in the midst of much busyness and much weariness, I had fallen well behind in my Bible-reading schedule and was praying on-the-fly more often than withdrawing to a lonely (or quiet) place to pray. In other words, rather than stopping to pray, I was rolling through my prayer times as I hurried on with my Many Important Activities. And though I knew God was trying to get my attention regarding all this, I busily carried on, planning to do something about it next week.

I’ve heard Barney Coombs say that if God really wants to get your attention, he’ll touch your pocketbook. And it’s extremely wise to pay attention the first time He does this, or it can get costly! It seems, God felt this was important enough to touch my pocketbook. So I’ve had some great times with God lately and hope to do so every day. While so many situations around me continue to seem urgent, I can’t afford (both financially and spiritually!) to get involved in them without the wisdom and grace that comes from spending quality time with God. Jesus thought so. I’m obviously still figuring that out!

© 2008 by Ken Peters

"Excel still more!" (church bulletin cover)

I sometimes need to ask myself, “Have I become satisfied with as far as I’ve come in my walk with the Lord?” Oh, of course I know there’s plenty of room for growth in my life, but am I always eager to achieve that growth? Sometimes I recognize a certain weariness in me that doesn’t want to go further or reach higher or push deeper. I think, “I’m doing pretty good at that.” Or, “I’m doing well enough at that. I can rest now.”

Then along comes the Apostle Paul, that Biblical go-getter, who urges the Thessalonians on a couple of occasions to “excel still more” (1 Thessalonians 4:1, 10). In each case, Paul acknowledges that the Thessalonians are already doing quite well in the areas he urges them to increasingly excel in. This is no rebuke regarding areas in which they were doing poorly. This is a challenge to take it up a notch—to go to the next gear—to do still better at what they’re already doing well at. To paraphrase, Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:1, “Just as you’re already living in a way that pleases God, excel still more!” And in 1 Thessalonians 4:10, he says, “Just as you’re already loving all the brethren all over Macedonia, excel still more at that!” In other words, let your past encouragements be a launch pad for going even higher with God! Don’t rest on your laurels, content with past exploits, living off the glow of their memory or off the momentum of past acceleration. Go for more! You’ve excelled already, but don’t stop now! Excel still more! That takes energy and effort, which Paul was no stranger to, but God gives us the strength we need to press on.

May we never stop being faithful labourers who, by God’s strength, are willing to “excel still more” at all that God calls us to!

© 2008 by Ken Peters

Obedience after the work seems done (church bulletin cover)

School is out and summertime is upon us! For Winnipeggers, that’s the equivalent of offering sunlight and celebration to workers coming up from months in the Mines of the Mundane. Freedom, we cry! But what if as we came up from those shafts of hard work and honest labour, we found that God was asking us to help Him with something amazing He wanted to do? What would be our response?

There was a time when, after a hard night’s work for Peter and his fishing companions, Jesus asked Peter to put out into deep water and let down his nets for a catch. Peter’s response was to say, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing! But I’ll do as you say and let down the nets” (Luke 5:5). How much of our labour between September and June can be summed up by the words, “I’ve worked so hard already, and it hasn’t even seemed that worthwhile”? The hard work of life’s routines can produce a resistance to anything new God may ask of us come summertime. But God doesn’t stop moving in the summer, and may be asking us to do something far more wonderful than what we’ve seen since last summer! Yes, it’s easy to say, “I’m too tired – haven’t I already done enough?” And we might even dare to wonder at the value of doing the very thing God asks of us. But in so thinking, we must be careful that weariness doesn’t become the seedbed of unbelief in our hearts.

Peter, though, does as he’s asked, and the result is a net so full of fish that it was to the point of nearly breaking (Luke 5:6)! Obeying the voice of God is so much more rewarding that the toil of our own efforts. So no matter how weary I may be from the routines of September to June, if God is merciful enough to speak to me about what He’s doing these days, I want to be ready to obey Him. And God forbid that I should be so weary from the busyness of fall-winter-spring that I’m not willing to obey Jesus in the specific things He asks of me come summer. For it’s as I obey Jesus that I will be left so amazed at Him that I’d be willing to leave everything behind to follow Him (Luke 5:9-11)!

© 2008 by Ken Peters

The Good Part

Does life ever feel crazy-busy to you? There are days when I find that life’s frenzied pace feels like the equivalent of lying on a car, desperately clinging to it as it recklessly speeds through my schedule! And then in the blur of my busyness, I vaguely recall the simple words, “Mary has chosen the good part” (Luke 10:42). How many times have I felt the challenge of those words?

Just those few words, “the good part” (NASB) or “what is better” (NIV) should bring me to a screeching halt, leaving behind that burnt-tire stench of self-initiative. Let’s think about this. Here’s Jesus, the Son of God, doing us the kindness of telling us what He considers “better” or “the good part” of life, and I appear too busy to notice. But let’s get some perspective here. Jesus’ life was extremely demanding. There were times He wasn’t even able to eat due to the pressing crowds (Mark 3:20). And there were times when crowds of thousands sought Him out and found Him even though He was trying to find a quiet place to be alone (Matthew 14:13). But He still somehow found time for what He saw as “the good part” as He made sure to carve out adequate time with His Father (Matthew 14:22-23). So why on earth would I, who am so much needier than Jesus, not take extra special care to make sure that every one of my days includes what Jesus considers “the good part”?

Jesus is calling me to come close, to be near Him, to intimacy, to know His thoughts, to enjoy His company, to hear from Him and dwell on His Words. I ought to consider such a call to be a rescuing hand reaching through my whirlwind of activity, pulling me to the soul-satisfying sanctuary of God’s presence. But as Jesus extends His hand, I still need to choose to grab it in the same way that Mary “chose” to sit and listen to Jesus in Luke 10:42. To discover the encouragement of “the good part”, I must make a choice: my way or His? It’s clear enough to me that Jesus’ way is not some kind of life where we just sit passively at His feet, listening, ever listening, never doing, never busy. But what I see in the story of Mary and Martha is that the only service Jesus desires is an activity that is born out of a life with Him – out of devotion that provides direction from heaven! It’s the branch-that-can-do-nothing-apart-from-the-vine principle. It’s being responsive rather than taking initiative.

It’s choosing the good part.

© 2008 by Ken Peters

Who's at that table with God? (church bulletin cover)

Starbucks is not just a place for coffee. It’s a place for relationship. It’s a place to hang out with friends and share what’s on your mind or on your heart. Imagine God sitting at one of those little round tables sipping a latte. Who would be sitting with Him, hearing what’s on His mind? Who would He be leaning across the table to speak with as He shares what’s on His heart?

Psalm 25:14 speaks of that kind of relationship with God... “The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.” What a picture. Here’s the God who flung galaxies across the universe and who holds it all in the palm of His hands, confiding in a tiny, little resident of that universe – someone He created for a relationship with Him. Who is it David had in mind for such intimacy with God as he wrote Psalm 25? It’s not reserved for those we might consider the Somebodies of this world, but it’s also not just for anybody. Psalm 25 says that the Lord saves chairs at such tables for “those who fear Him.”

This is not an expression that fits well with our Starbucks culture. Inspiring fear in those you sit with kind of wrecks the atmosphere. Why does God only want to sit and share with people who fear Him? The answer is simple. God will only draw close in friendship to those who have first accepted His Lordship. God does not want to remain at a distance from us, but nor will He draw near to those who disrespect His counsel. He is God, and even as He sits closely at a table with us, He expects us to remember that. So who is the one who fears the Lord? Psalm 25:12 both asks and answers that very question: The person who is prepared to walk according to the way God has shown them. The rest of Psalm 25 makes it clear that such a person is by no means perfect! David, a man who truly feared the Lord, says in verse 11 that his own sin is great! But what he also says just prior to that is God “guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way (v.9). It’s the humble who fear God and bow to Jesus Christ’s Lordship, and as we do, we find ourselves offered a chair and a heart-to-heart with the King of kings!

© 2008 by Ken Peters