As we continue preparing our hearts to celebrate Resurrection Sunday, we will take some time this week to consider how our routines or rhythms can help us walk in the wholeness that Christ has won for us.
In the past, creation itself insisted that our ancestors live in a rhythm of work and rest. In that lifestyle which was bound more closely with the natural world, people were accustomed to seasons of planting, waiting for growth, harvesting, and even dormant seasons.
Modern life, on the other hand, brakes for no one. It practically force-feeds us a continuous flow of opportunities. If we aren’t ruthless with our calendars, we find ourselves trapped inside impenetrable walls of constant activity. In this frantic pace, we cease to notice the natural cues from the world around us that life is meant to be lived in ebbs and flows.
Our life with God was never meant to just be one hard, unrelenting drumbeat of service and duty. Nor was it meant to simply be a soft, melodious, meditative retreat. The life that Jesus calls us to is a life like the one he modeled for us. A life lived with our God, dwelling with him, inviting him into each moment, whether the day is demanding or restful, through seasons that may be monumental or completely ordinary. We were made for work, we were made for rest, and we were made to delight in the Lord as we walk with him in both.
Believers down through the ages have used a variety of rhythms and disciplines to lift their eyes up from their daily tasks and fix them on Jesus. While all of the practices below have their uses, you may find some to be particularly helpful in a specific season.
(For more details on the items marked with an *, you can dig deeper by reading Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster)
If you need rest
Matthew 11: 28-30
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
-Sabbath rests (sometimes the holiest thing you can do is take a nap)
-Worship through song
-Intentional meditation on small portions of scripture
-Simplicity*
-Solitude*
If you need fruitfulness
Matthew 9:37-38
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
If you find yourself in a season of emptiness, feeling unfruitful, spiritual discipline might mean:
-Saying yes to helping in a ministry within your community
-Reaching out to someone in need of a friend
-Taking a meal to someone who is sick
Rhythms for all seasons
-Intentional morning (and/or evening) prayer
-Confession*
-Worship*
-Fasting*
-Study*
-Celebration*
One of the most practically useful actions we can take as believers who want to grow in our love for God and love for others is to plan intentional time in our calendars to contemplate our need for God, our need for repentance, and rejoice in the overwhelming blessing that we’ve been forgiven and adopted as God’s children. When we begin to understand how loved we are by our Father, that love will inevitably spill over our own lives and onto those around us.
Jesus calls us to a life like his, one filled with a motley crew of people (Luke 5:30-32), with all the messiness and complication that can bring. A life of seasons, times of great work and ministry (Matthew 9:35-38), regular times of retreating to talk with the Father (Mark 1:35, Luke 6:12, Matthew 14: 23). Times of fasting (Matthew 6:16-18, Mark 9:29) and times of feasting. And a life always, always filled with prayer.
As we continue preparing our hearts for celebrating the finished work of Christ, here are a few questions to meditate on, take to Him in prayer, and discuss with your small group or accountability partner.
Ask the Lord to search your heart and your schedule and show you any areas where you have taken on a yoke of responsibility that He did not intend for you to carry.
What is one new rhythm that you could weave into your routines or an old one that you could return to? Take some time to ask the Lord what He may be inviting you into as you walk alongside Him.
Bonus Bookshelf
Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard Foster
Dwell: Life with God for the World by Barry Jones
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