378. Resting Well is Good worship
We came back safely from our family vacation. The day we left happened to be the beginning of the really hot week in Toronto, so it was cooler in Mexico. The only downside of our trip was that it rained the whole week there. Because of the rain, we were forced to stay indoors a lot, but it also gave us a lot of time to rest. But there were moments of sunshine or no rain, which allowed for some outdoor activities every day still. Not having to worry about what to eat felt genuinely freeing and helped us (especially Jen) to enjoy the time together.
We scheduled a quick tour on Saturday but were concerned that it might rain. But we were thankful that the weather was great that day, which allowed us to go snorkelling with a clear view of the ocean and turtles. Interestingly, the moment we were done, it started raining again.
On Sunday, we had a short family service in the hotel room. We sang a song, and I gave a brief sermon on Hebrews 4:10 about the importance of “rest”. I talked about how it is God’s desire and design that we rest regularly, as he also rested from his works. I shared why diligent work is good worship (as God also worked) but so is rest (as he also rested). I can’t say my two little congregation members were very attentive, but it was a good way to cap off our vacation with family worship.
Worship is choosing to live our lives the way God desires and designed them. It is easy to think that doing many things for God is what he wants, but he genuinely wants us to “enter” God’s rest. It involves not only physical rest but also resting from our unceasing propensity to do more than we are allotted to do, which comes from the lack of trust in God to work on our behalf.
One main concern was how our kids would handle the flight. Both of them were worried about ear pain associated with take-off and landing, but thankfully they had minimal pain. There was an unexpected delay on our return flight, so we landed pretty late on Sunday. But overall, it was a smooth trip, and we certainly rested well, which was the main purpose of this trip.
