What a beautiful reality, where my responsibility becomes futility;
Where trying more is trying less and letting go is being blessed;
Where striving toward the perfect goal, the grander cause, not duty but delight.
Where knowing love is all my life. My perfect rest, your perfect might.
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Laughter is the best way to express perfect rest.
I have
wanted to reach this point my whole life. All the books, all the stories, the
dreams, and the moments of imagining what life could be have coalesced into a beautiful song called life. This life is no longer my own, but Christ who lives through
me. My struggle to reach this place is not over, but my fight has been won. This present reality is
but a glimpse of my future. It is from this place of perfect content that God
will work through my life. It is not through my effort and talents, but through
my rest and surrender that I will enter into the great things that God has prepared for me.
This rest does not refer to sleep or sloth, but to trust. It
is the posture of my heart. As I seek to know the One who gives me life, I will
discover Him through my actions, interactions and reflections. If I seek the
actions, interactions and reflections that could reveal Him, I will be
disappointed in my search. By seeking that which is good, I find only a
reflection of that which is best. By seeking that which is best, I find that
what is good makes that which is best even more beautiful. Thus, the posture of rest
is one that seeks only what is best. It does not pursue the multitude of worthy
causes that present themselves to me. However, in pursuit of the One who is worth
everything, I will find myself undertaking many of the worthy causes.
1 Corinthians 14:1 demonstrates this subtle difference in a
challenge to “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts.” Though the
demonstrations of love are desired, they are worth nothing apart from the
pursuit of love. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 precedes this short phrase with the
warning that actions without love are worthless. Thus, the good gifts are
desired, but only one thing is pursued: LOVE!
To pursue love as a character, thought, action, or emotion
would be a mistaken application of this passage. For love does not exist apart
from God. 1 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God,
and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love
does not know God because God is love.”
In conclusion, then, my pursuit of God - of knowing God, and
walking with Him in a restored relationship - is the source of my love, which
gives value to the demonstration of love. Within this framework, everything that I do receives its value from the
way in which it reflects the nature of God, expands my enjoyment of who He is,
and demonstrates His love to the world. I rest. I enjoy. He works through me.
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