The friendly sparrows, "implored him to exert himself."

One of my favorite little moments from a children's book is in Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit, where Peter is stuck in a gooseberry net by the brass buttons on his jacket, and he gives himself up for lost. But friendly sparrows flew to him in great excitement and, "implored him to exert himself." Sure enough, when Mr. McGregor came up to capture Peter, he wriggled out just in time!

I love that gentle first-exposure to little minds to the concept of being implored to exert oneself. 

I am pondering a passage from my daily reading today,

 This people honors me with their lips, 

but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

(Matthew 15:8-9, quoting Isaiah 29:13)

Jesus warns against the hypocritical stance of the Pharisees; and this follows a series of parables Jesus told--one of which was the parable of the soils--and it drove me question the hardness of heart that leads to hypocritical living. I know that I tend to like to follow rules, or rather, the perfectionist part of me likes to use rules to prove that I'm doing everything right. Looking at history (especially biblical history) that seems to be a broad gateway straight to this pharisaical pitfall. (Can you tell we've been immersed in Pilgrim's Progress lately?!)

I am reminded of Hebrews 3, where we are reminded of the Israelites who, on the tails of their miraculous delivery from slavery to the Egyptians, yet rebel against God and lose the opportunity to receive God's blessing of entering the promised land. Rather than, "enter his rest," they fell in the wilderness until the next generation. 

I don't know about you, but looking at my to-do list as a (night-shift working, law-enforcement) wife and (homeschool) mom, the opportunity to enter God's rest sounds pretty fantastic. 

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. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:9-13)

I've pondered the theology of Sabbath rest a lot over the years, and I see it cropping up here again (Hebrews 4:8-9). How is Sabbath rest connected to hardness of heart, hypocrisy, and a pursuit of man's commands over God's?

I think the answer is right there in the text--we rest from OUR work. The distinction is clear, both in this Hebrews passage and in the Matthew passage with which this discussion began. We don't look to man for answers, we look to God. We don't stop striving--but we strive for God's goals, not ours. 

We are to "strive to enter that rest" by not falling into that same hard-hearted disobedience, for which we should seek the word of God, which is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. If we continually bring our minds and hearts back into alignment with God's mind and heart--which we learn about through Scripture--then we will start to have that back-and-fourth relationship to God. 

My sin (the thoughts and intentions of my heart) will be exposed by the word of God, the contrast between God's holiness, goodness, and other perfect qualities and my lack of those will be painfully clear. And out of the relationship between God and myself--through the work of the Holy Spirit--I will engaged in process of sanctification. My faith in God will show through my actions of obedience. (This is that idea of walking in the Spirit which we've discussed before)! 

My mental burden should be significantly lightened when I can embrace the fact that...the buck doesn't stop with me. I don't have to come up with standards, procedures, requirements--and I don't even have to flawlessly execute a to-do list. I am neither the source, nor the energy for this calling of obedience to God. Our culture tells us to find the answers and the strength within our selves to succeed--but God tells us to look to Him for both the answers and the power to do what we are called to do!

How do I know who God is and what will glorify Him? By reading His word. How do I break from the sinfulness that is bound in my heart? By identifying my sin, repenting of it, turning from it, and asking for the Holy Spirit to guide me in obedience and to strengthen and equip me to walk in that obedience. How do I know what sin is? By how it is defined by God in scripture; not by cultural norms or "what feels right," or any other standard. How do I know what obedience looks like? Again, by God's word! 

Sisters, I implore you continue striving--but not after the standards of our own sinful natures or the ideas of fallen man. Rather, I implore you to exert yourself in obedience to God. Read God's word and walk in obedience to Him!