Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
Hebrews 4:1[1]
When was the last time that you were careful? Not just a little bit careful but really careful? When the fear of doing something that might hurt you and your family smacked you right in the face? When anxiety made your hands shake? When you couldn’t say something because you were scared out of your wits?
The idea of being careful is always motivated by the fear of failure. Yes, we might want to do a good job. Yes, we want to succeed. Yes, we want to improve. But the other side of the coin of success is failure. The other side of improving is either just staying the same or even getting worse.
To me, rocket launches have to be careful. After all, there’s really very little room for failure. Either the launch is successful or not. And when the “or not” happens, everybody knows it. There’s no hiding an exploding rocket.
Because I like to cook, I make something from scratch every day. Sometimes I just sort of wing it and then there are other times that I’m really careful. I pull out a recipe that I’ve used in the past. I know it works because every time I make this particular recipe, it always, always, always comes out the same. And that same is really good. After all, if it wasn’t really good, why make it again?
I’m especially careful when I bake bread, cookies or a cake. I don’t get creative and start just throwing things in. Baking is more than just carefully measuring everything. You also have to add ingredients in the right order. You must follow instructions or something will go wrong.
One time, I was making Italian cookies known as biscotti. They’re full of nuts and after baking them twice, they’re really hard. That is, if you follow the instructions. One time I forgot to add the sugar at a certain point. When I finally remembered, I thought that I’d just add the sugar and everything would be OK. Boy was I wrong. They tasted OK but the biscotti never got hard. They were soft and chewy. Not exactly what a biscotti is supposed to be.
The writer is reminding the Hebrews that they need to be careful about something too. God has given them his promise of entering into his rest. Not just any old rest. Not even our idea about rest. But God’s idea of rest. His rest. How he made us to rest.
And God’s rest starts when we enter it. We’re not in his rest when we’re out there on our own. God’s rest doesn’t depend on what we think or how we try to impress him. His rest is freely offered and begins when we receive it.
The really good news is that this rest, God’s rest is still available. Even with all our screw-ups, blunders, mistakes, and sins, it’s still offered. It’s still available. God keeps offering it to them and us.
But there is a warning about falling short of his rest. That we fall behind from where his rest is. Where God wants to take us in and through his rest. God’s rest is the mountain top of rest. It just doesn’t get any better than his kind of rest.
When we try and live by our kind or rest, we’re going to be deeply disappointed. It’s never going to satisfy the extreme emptiness and longings inside. Our particular kind of rest will never compare to God’s rest.
As a matter of fact, our own trying to rest will do nothing but exhaust us. We’ll fall down with no energy left when we try, and try, and try to make ourselves rest. Our recipe for rest is a guarantee for failure. When we try and rest on our own, all we’ll do is to empty more and more rest out from ourselves.
The Hebrews who received this letter were under the gun of persecution. They were being chased all over the place by Roman and Jewish authorities. Soldiers were given orders to chase them out of cities. Leaders were given instructions on what to say against them. Ordinary citizens also took matters into their hands and oppressed them.
When the Hebrews looked forward to their Messiah, they were looking for a political leader who’d free them. They were looking for a great military general who’d lead them from victory to victory. Their Messiah would deliver them into a new life today. A perfect and peaceful life here on Earth.
But Jesus the Messiah wasn’t at all who or what they were expecting. They were looking for an instant change and remaking of their political and economic world. But Jesus was here to save us from something bigger than Rome. He came to pay for our sin and remake our relationship with God and one another.
Yes, the Hebrews were being warned to be careful about the kind of Messiah they were looking for. And we need the same warning. Are we looking for some instant solution to our problems here on earth? Or are we looking for a Savior who can make us whole again? Let’s continue to be very careful about the Jesus we want and need
Noodling Questions
What drives us to be careless? Careful?
How have you experienced God’s Rest?
Why has there been times when God’s rest was not within reach?
[1] Unless otherwise noted, all Bible references are from the New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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