John 15, 16 and 17
H,
Well, impossible is probably
the word. We go back and forth on this. Remember those old days of being moved
by every single sermon? Then the rush to perform it all at once. Then the let
down when it does not immediately work or when we do not immediately walk in
the light of that new revelation. It is that soul crushing fall that leads many
to leave Christianity, as Chesterton put it, “untried”. It is instructive how
little of it actually depends on anything but the willingness of the disciple
to be exactly that. In the last of our three chapters, there is a prayer that
does not focus on the character of the recipients of grace and how they can
work it out but on the character of the giver of grace and how He is able to
work in them.
It is quite simply the
lesson we first refuse to learn. We quote things like “work out your own
salvation” but forget the context of that statement. What we take from it is
that this is somehow up to us. Nothing supports this. The nature of Christ and
the message of the Christian walk emphasise the wielding of our weak state to the
almighty state of rest in God.
So, at the end, how do we do
this? How do we rest when there is all this pull to activity and work and duty
and action? We begin with submission. We have a will to give and we walk more
surely on the glory road when we give it up. We are not here to promote
something or sell something. We are on earth to be something, to be like
someone. This is the first and only charge of the Christian walk. It is all the
means in all the ends. The test of everything. The thing you think you will do
for God is ancillary to the purpose of becoming like Him. He came to show us
that and in that all of life is summarised.
The thing about rest is that
it helps us let go of the outcome. We are obsessed with the outcome of things.
We want control of how things concerning us end. We want to know that we will
always have this or that, can reach this goal or that. The beauty of the
Christian message is that it tells you there is only one outcome that matters
and on that you must hinge all your hope. It also tells you of grace and how
that will make sure the outcome that matters will happen to you. It tells you to
stay on the road and not to panic.
That is all the rest you
need. The ultimate outcome of your life is settled. I do not mean to say that
you can go back to bed and hide from life. I am saying the very opposite; you
can now engage life without the fear of outcomes. You can now speak of the
light you have received to others. You can now live and dance in the light
without shame. You can now think of your purpose and plan out your life in
light of the supreme will. It is an adventure not a daunting task. It is a joy,
an open hearted pursuit of the meaning of life in everything and a journey that
truly has a light at the end of many opaque tunnels. Am I painting it too
richly? I think I am underselling it. Words cannot tell and the heart cannot
imagine…
Rest.
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