Guest Speaker Roseanna M White – Vacationing with Jesus

The Message “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Vacationing with Jesus Matthew 11:25-30 25 At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. 26 Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. 27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” I have the joy of speaking a few times a year to different groups. They always invite me as an author, so usually I just end up talking about my writing life, and often about how I balance it with raising kids and homeschooling them. But after the last talk I gave to a group of young moms, I was thinking about how I’d like to speak more on topics other than me. Within a week of thinking that, Dad called and asked me if I would fill in this Sabbath. I knew that was the Lord’s way of saying, “Yes, see—you should speak more, and here’s a good opportunity.” But of course, that didn’t tell me what to speak on. As I prayed and mulled it over though, one topic kept coming back to my mind over and over again: VACATION. Summer is finally upon us, so vacation is a topic on a lot of different minds, right? When can we go? Where will we go? How long can we stay? How much will it cost? What do I have to do to prepare? For a lot of us, vacation isn’t about rest, it’s about doing—preparing to go, preparing to travel, preparing for each day while we’re there, preparing to get it all home, and then preparing to get back to normal life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say that they need a vacation from their vacation! Personally, David and I have made it a point to make our vacations restful. We don’t do much planning, and the most exciting thing on our agendas is usually to visit a museum or go out to dinner. Otherwise, we’re relaxing. Resting. Rejuvenating our minds and spirits. This is a necessary process. Studies show that vacations actually make us more productive, and it’s a longstanding observation. The word comes from the same root as vacancy—it means an opening, a freedom. Freedom from obligations and busyness. In the Law of Moses, we’ve seen how the Lord gave very specific instructions on rest. We have the Sabbath laws. The Sabbath year laws. The Feasts and festivals. All of these are meant to be times when man takes a break from the grind of daily life. But they’re something else too, aren’t they? They’re also meant to be times when we take a break from normal life…to worship and praise Him. Let’s look again at Matthew 11, specifically at the well known verses 28-30: 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Jesus isn’t just talking here about a physical rest, right? He’s talking about rest for our souls. I want to read you another translation, this time from the Message. “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” A friend of mine claims this as her favorite verse, so I’ve read it quite a few times. I like how in addition to the words “tired” and “worn out” he also speaks to that spiritual exhaustion—“burned out on religion.” Not on faith, but on religion. On the traditions, the processes, the expectations, the demands. Those can be so exhausting. They, like our jobs, are doing. And sometimes we need a rest from that in the worst way. I also love the insight into how we’re going to find that, which is kinda an extrapolation of “Come to Me” and “take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” “Get away with me. Walk with me. Work with me. Watch how I do it.” Wait—maybe this is a bad example after all. What does he say here? Work with me. Well that doesn’t fit the idea of vacation at all! But that’s just the Message. If we go back to the New King James, we don’t see that in there, right? It just says “take my yoke upon you.” Well…that doesn’t use the word work, to be sure. But what’s a yoke? It’s something we put on animals…so they can work. Hm. And it goes on with “learn from Me.” Okay, so let’s learn from Jesus. We see him doing plenty of things. Certainly, among them are traveling to observe the holy days—holidays. But even then, what is he doing? Healing the sick. Cleansing the lepers. Casting out demons. Preaching. Teaching. Working—but not toiling at a 9-5. He’s doing the Father’s work. So then…is doing the Father’s work…rest? That’s quite a thought, isn’t it? Though to be sure, even Jesus had to get away from the crowds. Away from that hands-on work. In those times, we see Him slipping away to pray. To commune with the Father. Perhaps that’s where we get the modern idea of a retreat. Unlike a vacation, a retreat usually has a specific goal—one focus. Often times, it’s a spiritual, emotional focus. Time to spend with the Father. Time to refresh our spirits, not just rest our bodies. Time that we want to focus on Him. Isn’t it? Last year I kept running into these posts on Facebook for women’s retreats, and every time I read them, they bugged me. And I couldn’t figure out why. After all, I could agree with their premise. They all asked, “Are you tired? Spread too thin? Worn out from always giving, giving, giving? Come here with us. Treat yourself to some quiet time. Tend yourself, then you’ll emerge better able to tend your family.” Yeah! Right? I’ve felt this way. I daresay most of us have at some point. So why did it keep niggling at me? I clicked into a few of the links and read the more thorough descriptions for them. They were all Christian-run, designed to be getaways full of devotionals and time with God, and yet…there was something about the wording that got me. I finally found a place that helped me identify it. It was speaking to the modern Christian woman who had exhausted herself by following what she “should do.” By always putting others first. By serving on committees. By running carpools. By volunteering at church. By always, always doing the things she felt sure God wanted her do…and who was now growing bitter toward the God who would ask so much and never seemed to give much in return. The retreat was speaking to that woman who always put herself last…and it invited her to put herself first for a weekend. That reminded me an awful lot of the secular world. All the spas and cosmetic companies and luxury items that tell us to indulge. To put ourselves first. It’s a familiar modern refrain: take of you so you can take care of others. And there’s truth in it. We do need to tend ourselves. We do need to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves. We do need to tend our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. But…where did this idea come from that focusing on others is self-destructive? Because that’s what the bottom line seems to be for a lot of the “put yourself first” folks. That you should do, or you’ll hurt yourself and everyone around you. But is that true? Yes, serving—our families, our churches, our ministries—takes it out of us. But should it? I’m going to go out on a limb and here say NO. It’s shouldn’t. Not if we’re doing it right. Why? Because we are not our own. We are God’s…but we’re not his slaves. We’re not forced to do what he tells us. We’re not forced to serve. If we feel like we are, then yes, it’s going to wear us down. It’s going to exhaust us. And it’s going to take more than a few hours of quiet in the morning to set our souls to rights. But you know what—it’s going to take more than a vacation too, if that’s our mindset. Because we’ll just get back from that break and face the same thing again. That pressure to do. That wearisome demand. That oppressive expectation. That sure feeling that if we don’t, we’ll mess it all up. Or be a disappointment. Or get in trouble. Or fail. Think about the plight of a slave. Historically, slaves were often stolen from their homeland in war, or else born into their bonds after their ancestors were. They were the property of their masters. Nothing was their own—not their clothes, not their beds, not their bodies, not their wills. If they chose to disobey, they could whipped, they could be sold, they could be killed. We are not God’s slaves. But we’re his bondservants. In Paul’s epistles, he calls himself and us “bondservants” 17 times. Here are just a few. Romans 1:1 [ Greeting ] Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 Corinthians 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. Ephesians 6:5 [ Bondservants and Masters ] Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; Ephesians 6:6 not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, Philippians 1:1 [ Greeting ] Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Philippians 2:7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. Dad has spoken before on what a bondservant is, but I’ll refresh you. A bondservant willingly indentures himself to his master to pay off a debt. But after 7 years, their masters are to offer them their freedom, and if they take that offer, the master is to give them money, clothes, and food to get them started in their new life. They took out all they brought in—property, wives, children. But bondservants can choose to stay. If they love their master, if they love serving there, they choose to remain a servant. If someone makes that choice, then he is choosing to serve his master forever. He is choosing to give up his own goals to serve the master’s goals. He is choosing to align his will completely with his masters. We are bondservants to God, through Jesus. Do you see what that means? It means we give up our own will for His. We give up our own goals for His goals for us. We willingly, thoroughly, forever-and-ever-amen give up us to be His. So we’re not doing His will, serving His people, because we must. We’re doing it because we love him. We love him so much that we gave up our own stubborn wills for His will for us. Because our number one goal is to please him. We choose His honor above our own. But we are not His slaves! Isn’t that a beautiful thing? Slaves don’t get vacation days, let me just tell you. They probably need it more than anyone—but isn’t that always the way? Who do you think gets the best, longest, most luxurious vacations? The rich folks, who really don’t need. The people who need it most are always the ones who can’t ever take it. But we are not his slaves! He wants us to find our rest…but he wants us to find it in him. In Jesus. As his bondservants, we’re not bound to him from a must, we’re bound to him from love. And he loves us too—so much that he names us heirs along with his son, just as so many bondservants we see in the Old Testament. We are not slaves. We are not slaves. We do not have to serve. We choose to serve. God isn’t standing over us with a taskmaster’s whip, saying, “Go feed the poor—now. Go make your family dinner—now. Go serve on that committee at church—now.” If he was, then yeah. We’d have a reason for being tired, worn out, and burned out on religion. There’s a reason slaves have revolted throughout history. And there’s a reason bondservants haven’t. Because instead of a whip, there’s love. I love my master, my Abba God. I want to please him. I want to listen to his voice above my own whining. Above the limitations of my body. I want to put aside my fickle, foolish will and rely on His instead. I want to let go of the idea that I can do whatever I want—that I have a right to do whatever I want—and instead do what he tells me. Because he’s so much wiser. So much better able to see what I need. And I want the assurance that it doesn’t matter if I’m weak… if I’m tired …. If I’m burned out … if I don’t have time … if I just can’t. I don’t have to—not by own power. When I’m too tired to soothe one more tear, all I have to do is let the Spirit minister through me. And let me tell you from experience, when you let the Spirit minister to someone else through you, you get ministered to as well. When I’m at my wit’s end, I don’t need to rely on my own mind anymore—all I have to do is rely on His wisdom. When thinking about faith, I so often look to the parent-child relationship for understanding. We can do that here, too. When my kids are bored, do you know what they do? They come to me. When they’re hungry…they come to me. When they’ve accomplished something they’re proud of…they come to me. When they’re hurt…they come to me. When they’re upset…they come to me. When they’re worried…they come to me. When they’re tired…they come to me. They curl up in my lap. And even though I can’t often do anything, it doesn’t matter. All they want is to know that Mama’s there. They want to curl up in my lap and be my baby. They want to be surrounded by my love. And after a few minutes, they’re refreshed. They’re ready to put aside the exhaustion or the scrape or bruise, the argument or the anger. They’re ready to go back to their game or their project or their work. There’s a book of Puritan prayers compiled by a man named Arthur Bennett. So many of them are so touching—this one really speaks to me here. “Blessed Lord, let me climb up near to Thee, and love, and long, and plead, and wrestle with Thee, and pant for deliverance from the body of sin, for my heart is wandering and lifeless, and my soul mourns to think it should ever lose sight of its beloved. Wrap my life in divine love, and keep me ever desiring Thee, always humble and resigned to Thy will, more fixed on Thyself, that I may be more fitted for doing and suffering.” Rest. That’s what Jesus offers. But we don’t get it by going away. We don’t get it by stopping what we’re doing. We don’t get it by focusing on us. We get it by focusing on Him. By crawling up into our Father’s lap. By letting the Spirit act through us. We get it by giving our lives…our hearts…our wills…our paths…our every day to him. When we do that, it isn’t just us anymore inside us. It’s His Spirit. His strength. He’ll fill us. And we’re filled with him, with his strength…how can we claim to not have enough of our own? How can I be so tired, if I’ve got the lifeblood of the Lord of Hosts flowing in my veins? How can I be burned out, when His fire is burning steadily in my soul? How can I say I can’t, that I’m not, when I’m the child of I AM? Yes, we all need times of renewal. We all need a break from the grind. He wants that for us—and he gives that to us. But no…we shouldn’t put ourselves first. We shouldn’t fall into that mindset of I need, I want, I deserve. That’s the thinking that wears us out. Burns us out. Makes us so unhappy. It’s not the focusing on others—it’s the focusing on us, on our own frustrations and limitations. But we’re not our own. We’re His. And all we have to do is crawl up into his lap and know that Abba is there. Let him fill us. And then know when we face that mean world again, it’s not us facing it alone—it’s Him facing it with us. And that’s a vacation we can take any day, anywhere. And which won’t leave us more tired when we get home than when we left.