Posted on Thursday, December 15, 2022

Finding Hope, Fighting Cynicism at Christmas

by Josh Reich

Photo by Ron Smith on Unsplash

We have a lot of feelings at Christmas time. Feelings of happiness and joy, laughter, parties, and gifts.

But we also experience some deeper, sadder feelings. The feelings of loneliness, being left out or forgotten. But one feeling creeps up on us, especially as we age. And that’s cynicism.

It’s easy at Christmas to be cynical. To look at people and think life doesn’t turn out that way. Like the commercials, people don’t just buy cars for their spouse without telling them. It’s easy to hear children’s dreams and think, good luck with that. I wish I could get the new iPhone too! To watch another hallmark movie and feel you can’t just leave the big city and move to a small town in New England and find love! It doesn’t work like that.

We do this with God too. To hear the stories of Jesus coming to earth and think, God doesn’t love like that. He doesn’t enter into the messiness of my story.

Advent is the answer to our cynicism and skepticism. The weeks remind us that when Jesus came and when Jesus comes again, we have hope, joy, peace, and love. Those aren’t just words for songs; they are real things and things we need.

But another reason we get cynical is we’re tired of waiting. We’re tired of trusting. We’re tired of asking: When will God heal my body and mend my relationships? When will God free me from this addiction? When will God do this for the people closest to me?

What do we do with our cynicism, so it doesn’t ruin our holidays?

Carey Nieuwhof said, “Cynicism happens not because you don’t care but because you do.”

Cynicism happens not because you don’t care but because you do. -@cnieuwhof

The places in our lives where we become cynical are deeply personal hopes and dreams that we carry for our present and future.

In this place, we have to battle for contentment and fight cynicism.

One of the things we miss when we think about contentment is that our contentment in life, marriage, parenting, and leadership is not just about us but all the people connected to us. Our spouse and kids are affected by our contentment or lack thereof.

If you are a pastor, leader, or boss, those following you are impacted by the contentment or cynicism you feel. As a parent, your kids feel the weight of cynicism or the joy of your contentment.

As a parent, your kids feel the weight of cynicism or the joy of your contentment.

We can easily beat ourselves up because of contentment and cynicism ebb and flow.

But how do you fight for contentment, especially if you are not naturally optimistic?

3 ways to fight cynicism.

Surround yourself with contented people. A thankful person is a joy to be around. Get around them, listen to them. They have peace that few other people have.

Learn what leads to cynicism. If you are a church planter or pastor, cynicism comes from hearing about a larger church or a church planter who was given a building out of the blue (that’s mine). If you are a parent, it might be hearing about another family or seeing something on Instagram. Know your triggers. Know when they might hit. Hint: it will often happen when you are tired or emotionally depleted. Just be aware of that.

Be grateful for what you have. One of the practices that has helped me this past year is writing down at least three daily things I am thankful for. This has caused me to pause in my day and see how things are going well, things I can celebrate.

Posted on Thursday, December 1, 2022

The Celebration of Advent

by Josh Reich

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

A lot is written and said about the waiting and the longing of Advent. And that is what Advent is, the silence, the letting go of control as we wait.

But what are we waiting for? What are we anticipating?

A celebration.

We also see this in the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah has so many prophecies about the Messiah and what the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus would mean for us.

Isaiah 25 says: On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine – the best of meats and the finest of wines.

This is not a thrown-together party.

This is well thought out.

Like the preparation many of us go through for Christmas.

I love to smoke meat. I’ll get up early on holidays to get the right flavored wood to go with the meat, the perfect rub, making sure the food is excellent for the people I’m serving.

Why? It brings joy.

The best foods, the finest wines. We are told in Psalm 104 that wine brings joy.

This is a picture of joy.

The best meat is the expensive, dry-aged ribeye steak. The best wine, not the stuff in a box, but the one you go into the wine cellar and pull out, the wine you’ve been saving.

Our best Christmas feast is only a foretaste of what eternity with Jesus will be like.

Christmas is a foretaste of eternity.

We don’t think like this.

But we practice for eternity when we sit around a table with friends and family.

Do you see how joy is savoring?

Joy is slowing down.

How to experience joy at Christmas.

But this feast isn’t just about what is being served but the purpose of it.

The prophet Isaiah goes on: On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

Have you ever been invited to a party and not been in the mood?

Maybe right now, you look at your life, this past year, and wonder how you can celebrate. How can you meet up with family and friends this week and celebrate?!

The hope of Advent is that Jesus came and that He will come again, and when he does, he will swallow up death forever; he will wipe every tear away from our faces.

He will take away the pain of betrayal, sadness, cancer, the pain of death, and decay.

He will swallow them up. He is showing his power over those things.

He will remove the disgraces.

Think, the disgraces, the things you wish you could undo, the regrets you wish you hadn’t missed, the things your family reminds you of, the things you think when you look in the mirror, all removed.

We rejoice, and we are glad in his salvation.

In what he has done.

Our salvation was bought 2,000 years ago when Jesus came to earth, died in our place, and rose from the dead.

Posted on Monday, November 21, 2022

How to Handle Seasons of Doubt & Disappointment

by Josh Reich

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

As I’ve been preaching through the book of Daniel, I’ve been struck by the struggles Daniel has and doesn’t have.

He doesn’t seem to struggle with confidence and courage in following God’s call on his life. When faced with praying to God or worshiping a false god (the king), he chooses God. Was it difficult for him? Maybe, but we aren’t told.

In the second half of Daniel, we encounter a switch in how Daniel writes. The first half is a narrative, the story of Daniel’s life, but the second half is apocalyptic. Apocalyptic means “revelation,” so it is a revealing of something.

Often, apocalyptic carries a sense of doom but also a promise of God’s presence and power. It is two sides of the same coin.

How to understand apocalyptic texts in the Bible.

Daniel comes to God in Daniel 7 with a question: why does evil prosper? Why are there mighty kings who are against God and His people?

We have the same question.

Why is my life so hard when I’m only trying to please God? Why do I have cancer? Why do I suffer when those around me who want nothing to do with God have an easy go of it?

Why am I not progressing the way I want to in my career, marriage, or parenting? Why can’t my finances come together, but that person at work who cuts corners gets promoted and things his way?

God’s answer to evil.

God’s answer to Daniel is simple: Yes, evil exists and prospers but not forever.

This is comforting and hard all at the same time.

God gives Daniel a dream of 4 beasts, a throne engulfed in flames which the Ancient of Days sits on, and the son of man (which we know from the gospels is Jesus).

Many historians debate who the beasts are and which kingdoms they represent. We know they are kings and prosper in wealth, destroying people and nations, but they eventually disappear, and someone else takes their place.

This is the reality and comfort God gives Daniel.

When we come to God, asking why things are difficult or struggling to trust Him with today, tomorrow, and the day after, He often doesn’t provide us the answer we want.

He gives us Himself.

That’s what He did for Daniel.

What is easy to overlook is verse 2, where we are told the beasts come out of the sea after the winds of the heavens stir the sea.

God tells Daniel in multiple places in chapter 7 that yes, evil exists, and yes, it is difficult and challenging.

But I am there. I am here.

That is the power and hope of God’s presence.

Posted on Monday, October 24, 2022

The Seasons of Life and Family

by Josh Reich

Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

Life is full of seasons.

We see this in the seasons of childhood and school, the seasons we walk through each decade, and the seasons of our careers.

I’ve always gravitated toward the year’s seasons and how they reflect our seasons of life.

Here’s what I mean:

Winter is the season of hibernation and resting, holding steady. It is also the season of sadness, sickness, and loneliness. There are seasons in life and family of sorrow, illness, and loneliness. Seasons of resting and clearing the calendar to sit by the fire. Winter is also the season of preparation because you aren’t doing other activities.

While it can feel like nothing is happening in winter, many things are happening in winter.

Spring is the season of new beginnings and opportunities, the season of hope. Life is blooming. This season can feel like a shotgun went off. Like it is all of a sudden busy. Everything is happening at once. This season can start with a new job, opportunity, or school year. I remember a farmer telling me once that to have a great fall; you have to jump on the opportunity in spring and work harder than you think.

Summer is the season of growth, enjoyment, and fun. Summer is the season of life when you begin to see the payoff for some of what you did in life. In the summer, you also need to be pruning your life to live effectively and at a sustainable pace. In farming, you are weeding, protecting what matters to you. Summer can also be the time you are tempted to sit back, but if you do, that’s when you can lose your crop.

Fall is the harvest season. We reap all that we have sown in the fall. Fall is when you see the results of what you did and either celebrate or lament. Fall is the season of change; the leaves change, and the weather gets colder. Fall is also the time that you prepare for winter. You winterize your house and pipes. The same is true in life and relationships. You need to prepare for winter.

Which season are you in personally? What about your spouse and each one of your kids?

Do you know which season of life you are in? The answer matters a great deal.

This is because if we don’t know which season we are in, we will be unprepared for the next season. We will also miss the blessings that each season brings.

Winter brings the blessings of slower times, sitting by the fire and relaxing, doing a puzzle, and being together with family and friends.

Spring brings the blessings of warmer days, walking outside, and beginning gardens and new rhythms.

Summer brings the blessings of longer days, picnics and beach days with friends and family, and vacations from school and work.

Fall brings the blessings of a new school year, new adventures, and cooler temperatures.

Each season has its blessings, but it also has its challenges.

Each season of life has its own blessings, but it also has its own challenges.

Winter brings the challenges of sadness and loneliness. The days are shorter, and the nights are longer.

Spring brings the challenges of busyness and feeling behind.

Summer brings the challenges of a new schedule that can throw your life into chaos.

Fall brings the challenges of being behind the eight ball and not being prepared.

Each season of marriage has its own blessings, but it also has its own challenges.

Posted on Thursday, September 22, 2022

How to Figure Out God’s Will for Your Life

by Josh Reich

Photo by Jamie Templeton on Unsplash

When people talk about figuring out God’s will or hearing the voice of God, we tend to get very mysterious and talk about it in ways that, when we step back, seem odd.

Have you ever noticed that you can often see God’s will for someone else before they can? Others can usually see it for you as well.

What if you are trying to figure out things in your life and hear the voice of God for you? God speaks to us in a variety of ways. He speaks through his word, open and closed doors, friends, family, community, our desires and fears, and nature, to name a few.

As you face your next decision, whether big or small, here are some ways to begin hearing God speak, move in your life, and stop resisting His voice. That last one is a big one.

1. Listen to the Bible and close friends you trust who are spiritually mature. God’s will for your life is not a mystery; in fact, it’s all over the pages of the Bible. He tells us how to be married, be friends, and parents, have integrity, honor leaders and government and bosses, pray, fast, worship, and be a good steward of our treasure, time, and talents.

I believe that if we do these consistently and wholeheartedly, we will rarely wonder what God’s will for our lives is.

Why?

Because when we listen to his word and wise counsel, we will be doing what he called us to do, what he designed us to do.

On top of that, ask trusted friends and mentors who you consider to be spiritually mature.

What do they do? How do they live? What do they say about the questions you ask or your struggles?

Listen to them.

Does what they have to say line up with Scripture?

If so, that’s a clue you are heading in the right direction.

Pay attention to what the Bible says to you.

During this time, you also need to make sure you are taking time to pause, sit and wait and listen. Don’t rush. One of the ways we get into trouble is when we rush ahead and get started too quickly.

2. Live out what the Bible and those friends tell you.

Here comes the part where many of us get off the ride: Live it out.

It is one thing to say you are going to get up and read your Bible or exercise, and another thing to do it.

It’s one thing to say you are going to be more patient with your kids and another thing to show them patience and grace.

Life is filled with regrets, missed opportunities, and a laundry list of shoulds and coulds.

Pay attention to wise counsel.

3. When you feel like God is speaking…act.

This leads to the last part.

Act.

Do it.

Don’t stand on the sideline.

Have you ever noticed that God is moving in the lives of people who act? I don’t know if he speaks more to them, but they seem to listen more and work more.

Now it is time to move on to what God has said and not look back.

3 ways to hear the voice of God.

Posted on Wednesday, August 17, 2022

How to Survive and Thrive in a Divided World

by Josh Reich

thrive

Photo by Elijah Macleod on Unsplash

Many say, “Our world has never been more divided. It has never been this hard to follow Jesus. Our culture has never been so evil or opposed to God.”

While these feel true because of the world we inhabit and like a fish in water, this is the only world we know, it is hard to see anything else. History and Scripture tell a different story.

Is our world divided? Yes.

Is it hard to follow Jesus? Yes.

Is our culture opposed to God and spiraling out of control? Yes.

Is this the worst it has ever been? No.

Enter what I think is one of the most relevant books in the Bible and stories about the life of Daniel.

Daniel doesn’t just tell us the story of a culture opposed to God, but how to also live and thrive in that culture and how we can hold on to our faith in that culture.

I hear more and more of the idea that Christians must fight the culture with the same weapons. If the culture protests, we should. If the culture enacts laws or lobbies politicians, we should. If the culture yells and screams names at us, we should also.

But does that work?

Depends on our goal. If our goal is to do what the culture around us is doing and what they are accomplishing, then we should use their weapon. But if we have a different goal (and Scripture does for followers of Jesus), then that should influence how we live, act and react.

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Daniel shows us how not to give in but gain influence and survive and thrive in a culture that is opposed to God.

But in doing that, we have to know when to stand up, what to hold fast, and when to let things go.

In Daniel 1, after Daniel and his friends are taken into exile, they are fed the food of the king (food and wine that was sacrificed to idols), they were made into Eunuchs, educated in the occult and values of the Babolynian culture (the evilest culture in the history of the world), their names were changed and more.

Yet, the thing that Daniel and his friends stood against was the food.

To me, this is fascinating and a little head-scratching. You would think the food would be the lowest on the list. Why not fight about the culture, the values, and the education they were getting? That is where many Christians spend their time fighting in our culture. I’m not saying we shouldn’t stand against things in the school system, but I think it’s interesting that Daniel and his friends don’t.

When they stand against the food, they ask the Chief Eunuch to feed them water and vegetables (Daniel 1:8). He also tells him to decide after ten days if the test is worth it. Now, what’s interesting about this whole exchange is that Chief Eunuch doesn’t have to grant Daniel’s request and doesn’t have to give him ten days. Daniel asks; Daniel is humble and shows his willingness to be under the Chief Eunuch, no matter what is decided.

One of the themes in Daniel that Larry Osborne points out, which is vital for our cultural moment, is “God is in control of who is in control.”

God is in control of who is in control. -Larry Osborne

So, in light of God’s power over all the authorities (parents, schools, teachers, government officials, etc.), how do we engage the world around us? How do we know when to stand up and stand against and when to keep our mouths shut?

The answer is not as universal as I think we might think.

What is a conviction for you may not be for others.

We see this in the New Testament around food sacrificed to idols (1 Corinthians 8). Paul tells us that there are things that matter of conscience and conviction.

In light of that, as you look at the world around you, here are a few words to keep in mind:

Conviction
Disagreement
Discomfort

First is conviction. These are the firmly held beliefs you have according to Scripture. The beliefs that shape your life and doctrine. The hills that you will die on and not budge on. As we’ll see, not everything is a conviction, but in our culture, most Christians put everything into this category. Again, your convictions may not be held by every other Christian.

Not every conviction you hold is held by every other Christian.

The second is disagreement. The word disagreement shows us that this can be a debated topic. These are things you believe, but others hold different opinions on. These can be what Paul refers to in Romans as “disputed matters” (Romans 14:1).

The last is discomfort. These ideas, beliefs, values, and practices make you uncomfortable. They might be connected to a conviction, or they might be things you don’t like. Again, many Christians put their discomforts into convictions, and when we do, I think we cut off some influence we have.

Again, the things you put in conviction, disagreement, and discomfort are important to understand because they might not be the same for everyone. But it is also essential to think through what we face in our culture, and the values that are given to us and ask, where do I put each of those things? Knowing that helps us to move forward with wisdom and humility, to know when to stand up and when not to, what is worth losing something over, and what might be a battle we skip for another day.

Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2022

The Spiritual Rhythm of Walking

by Josh Reich

Photo by Jad Limcaco on Unsplash

When we started our summer series Summer Reset: Reevaluating our Spiritual Rhythms, one of the rhythms we talked about was the practice of walking. Yet, as we wrapped up our series on Sunday, if you’ve been following along, you know that we didn’t talk about walking.

We planned to do it on July 24th when I came back from my summer preaching break, but I felt like we needed to spend a week on the rhythm of letting go and talking about what we’ve lost in these last few years.

In light of that, I wanted to write about the spiritual rhythm of walking. One of the books that was helpful to me on the topic was Mark Buchanan’s book, God Walk: Moving at the Speed of Your Soul.

Walking as a spiritual rhythm.

Why walk? What are the benefits of walking as a spiritual rhythm?

Here are a few:

5 benefits of walking.

Perspective. Have you ever had a heated discussion with someone, and you both got up and went to separate spaces to collect your thoughts and catch your breath? That’s one thing walking does. It creates distance. After a walk, I often feel clarity about things that were once foggy.

Silence. Coupled with perspective, it gives us silence. One of the things I think is vital with walking is to do it without your phone. Yes, walking can be a great time to listen to worship music or a podcast, and I’d encourage you to do that with this practice, but it is also a great time to get some silence, to listen to the breeze and nature, and still your soul and the voices running around in your head.

This silence allows you to hear God’s voice, get a sense of what He is doing or directing you, and pray about things.

Processing things. Moving is a great way to process and move items around in your head. It helps you to be more creative, let go of things and make better decisions.

Walking helps us to be more creative and make better decisions.

Health. Walking thirty minutes a day, getting your 10,000 steps in, is one of the best things you can do for your health, no matter your age. David Sautter, a NASM-certified personal trainer at Top Fitness, said, “A sedentary lifestyle is how muscle and connective tissue atrophies. Impact movement, such as walking, helps to provide the stimulus needed for maintaining muscle and tissue density.” And according to the Arthritis Foundation, “Walking is one of the most important things you can do if you have arthritis. It helps you lose weight or maintain the proper weight. That, in turn, lessens joint stress and improves arthritis symptoms.”

Slow us down. One of the things we see in the gospels is Jesus walked everywhere, and as we walk it slows us down. Our world moves quickly and our bodies are not created to move at the speed we often run. This is why we love nature, getting away, and breathing deeply in the mountain or ocean air.

Walking slows our world down to have greater clarity.

We need to slow down, and walking is one of the ways we do that.

Posted on Monday, July 25, 2022

The Practice of Letting Go

by Josh Reich

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

On Sunday, I talked about the year(s) that we have lived through. It has been a lot.

Some of us have lost and started new jobs or watched family and friends do so. Maybe you have moved or watched friends move. We have seen friends and family get sick, and some of us have said goodbye to friends and family who have passed away.

All of it has been a lot to walk through.

Over this last year, I have heard from countless people and thought, “Can’t we just go back to how it was?” But we can’t. We can’t get back what we lost or go back to how it was; we have to move forward. But to move forward, we have to take stock of where things are and give things over to God.

Over this last year, I have heard from countless people and have thought to myself, “Can’t we just go back to how it was?”

Ecclesiastes 7 stopped me in my tracks one morning during my preaching break.

It says:

A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, since that is the end of all mankind, and the living should take it to heart. Grief is better than laughter, for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad. The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure. It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person than to listen to the song of fools, for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile. Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the mind. The end of a matter is better than its beginning; a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit. Don’t let your spirit rush to be angry, for anger abides in the heart of fools. Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?” since it is not wise of you to ask this. Wisdom is as good as an inheritance and an advantage to those who see the sun, because wisdom is protection as silver is protection; but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner. Consider the work of God, for who can straighten out what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that no one can discover anything that will come after him.

God has made the day of prosperity and adversity.

God has made the day of prosperity and adversity.

This season led me to an essential practice that has helped me immensely. I saw it in John Eldredge’s great book Get Your Life Back: Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad. He calls it benevolent detachment. It stops several times each day to give everyone and everything over to God.

The practice of pausing in your day.

To help me with that, I use his pause app (which I’d highly recommend you download for free), set the time that works for your day, and pause to give everything and everyone over to God.

How to let go of your worries, cares, and stress.

Each day, my phone buzzes at 10:45 and 3:30 to remind me to pause. When I do, I sit still, take several deep breaths and pray over and over, “God, I give everything and everyone to you.” This has helped me let go of what is behind me and see what is in front of me so I can be fully present with God, myself and others. It reminds me that I am not all-powerful, but God is. It reminds me that God cares for me, and I can give him what is weighing me down. And ultimately, God has it all in his hands.

Posted on Monday, June 13, 2022

Creating a Rhythm of Sabbath Rest

by Josh Reich

Photo by Fabian Møller on Unsplash

Recently, I preached on the topic of Sabbath rest. But how do you create that? What goes into that day and preparing for that day?

Before getting to that, why don’t we rest? After all, almost everyone I talk to says things like, “I have too many things on my calendar” or, “At the end of the day, I don’t have energy for my spouse, kids, or the people who matter most to me.” We are tired, overwhelmed, and a rundown bunch of people.

To prepare for the sabbath and to create a rhythm of rest, here are some questions to ask yourself (and your family):

Am I living sustainably, and will it help me thrive tomorrow?
What would you do for 24 hours that would fill your soul with deep, throbbing joy? (from John Mark Comer)
What is necessary? What brings life?

What would you do for 24 hours that would fill your soul with deep, throbbing joy? -John Mark Comer

The goal of the sabbath is rest, joy, and delight.

Why does this matter?

God calls us to be healthy. Healthy spiritually, physically, relationally, emotionally, and mentally. God created us, and all of us are meant to glorify Him.

This is a question that pushes on wisdom. In your life and your family right now, are you living in a way that will help you be healthy and thrive tomorrow? Is it sustainable? In churches, people often burn out because they overload their calendars. We say yes to too many things. I have friends in four Bible studies a week, run their kids to ballet, orchestra, baseball, and football, and serve in six ministries. Now, once you ask, are we living sustainably, you will often cut things out of your life. This is a good thing. However, the problem appears in the cutting. The second part is what will help me thrive tomorrow. That answer is more complicated. Not harder to discern but harder to apply. I’ll often see people cut God or church out of their lives in favor of hobbies or their kids’ sports. That won’t help you thrive tomorrow.

Am I living in a way that is sustainable and will help me thrive tomorrow?

So what is the answer? What is our hope?

We are learning to see and live with Jesus as our rest.

Tim Keller helps us with what this looks like:

God liberated his people when they were slaves in Egypt, and in Deuteronomy 5:12–15, God ties the Sabbath to freedom from slavery. Anyone who overworks is really a slave. Anyone who cannot rest from work is a slave – to a need for success, to a materialistic culture, to exploitative employers, to parental expectations, or to all of the above. These slave masters will abuse you if you are not disciplined in the practice of Sabbath rest. Sabbath is a declaration of freedom.

Thus Sabbath is about more than external rest of the body; it is about inner rest of the soul. We need rest from the anxiety and strain of our overwork, which is really an attempt to justify ourselves—to gain the money or the status or the reputation we think we have to have. Avoiding overwork requires deep rest in Christ’s finished work for your salvation (Hebrews 4:1–10). Only then will you be able to ‘walk away’ regularly from your vocational work and rest.

What does that look like practically on a day-to-day basis? Here are a few ideas:

Let go because Jesus has this. As our Sabbath rest, we need to let go and give Jesus our burdens, stress, anxiety, and rest in Him. We know we will have responsibilities, stress, and worries because Jesus tells us we will, and we are to give them to him. Because of Jesus’ work, coming from heaven to earth, we can accept our limitations. Because Jesus is limitless, we can rest in Him.

Schedule rest and recreation. It won’t just happen. Hebrews 4 tells us that we are to enter God’s rest. Exodus 20 tells us to “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” There is an active move on our part as it relates to rest. Sabbath throughout Scripture is an intentional thing, not something that is thrown together at the end.

The reality of being intentional also comes into play when it comes to our calendars and how we spend our time. Our lack of rest, while we often blame others, really comes down to our problem of stopping, trusting God, and being okay with not doing certain things.

You’ve heard me say that every time you say yes to one thing, you say no to something else.

Maybe you should take your kids out of activities so that you can spend the evening together. The number one complaint I hear from people is, “I don’t have time. I don’t have time for hobbies, sleep, marriage, relationships, kids, or reading my Bible.” You do; you just gave that time away. You give your time to the things that matter most. So what gets your time is what is essential. This is why taking control of your calendar matters. If you don’t control your calendar, someone else will.

Learn how you rest best. What does enjoying God look like? I think there are some basic principles, but each of us will do this in unique ways. If the goal of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, Sabbath rest is a great way to do this.

This will also include the reality of a place for all of us. Place matters when it comes to glorifying God, enjoying God, and resting in God.

The place is throughout Scripture. Adam and Eve were given a garden, the nation of Israel was given a land, and the church is given a city in Revelation. There is a place where rest, connecting to God, feeling closer to God happen for us, and it is essential to think through that. For some, it is a farm, the woods, a mountain, a city, a beach, but figure it out.

Fight against technology. A few practical things help me: resting from social media once a week, not having phones at the table so I can enjoy family time and conversations with friends, and not checking email at night or on the weekends. The sad thing is that study after study says that as we become more and more technological as a culture, we become more distant and lonely.

Review your day and week. In his helpful book The Rest of God, Mark Buchanan says that at the end of your day, ask: Where did I feel most alive, most hopeful, most in the presence of God? And where did I feel most dead, most despairing, farthest from God? What fulfilled me, and what left me forsaken? Where did I taste consolation, and where desolation? This helps you to see where God is moving and at work. Part of Sabbath rest is celebrating that God is in control, resting in that, and praising God’s goodness in our lives.

Part of Sabbath rest is celebrating that God is in control, resting in that, and praising God’s goodness in our lives.

Posted on Thursday, May 26, 2022

Practicing Silence & Solitude

by Josh Reich

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Practicing silence and solitude will take some practice. It is a rhythm that we need, but often we don’t take the time to practice.

For some of us, we struggle to make time for ourselves and God; we struggle to put it into our schedule. Our lives are so busy and fast that sitting alone in silence is uncomfortable. Some of us struggle with silence because it is in the silence that we hear voices and stories from our past or the enemy.

As we looked on Sunday, some of us say we aren’t sure God will speak to us or wants to speak to us.

As you make this a regular rhythm, here are some ideas from Ruth Haley Barton’s excellent book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence:

Identify your sacred time and space. Look for an area where you can be alone for a specific time, whether outside, at home or office. Does it help to use a candle? A cross to help you focus on the presence of God? Be sure to let family or co-workers know about your rhythm to have some time for silence and solitude.
Begin with a modest goal. Depending on your experience with this practice, and your life stage, take that into account as you think about your goal. Don’t feel the pressure to set a goal of sitting in silence for 15 minutes if you’ve never done this before. Barton reminds us, “The amount of time is not nearly as important as the regularity of this practice.”
Settle into a comfortable yet alert physical position. Sit in a position that is comfortable but helps you to be alert. If you feel comfortable placing your hands up, do so.
Ask God to give you a simple prayer that expresses your openness and desire for God. Choose a prayer phrase that describes your desire or need for God these days in the simplest terms. An example might be The Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” Pray this prayer several times as an entry into silence and a way of dealing with distractions.
Sit and be with God. The goal of silence and solitude is to be aware of the presence and love of God.
Close your time in silence with a prayer of gratitude for God’s presence.

Lastly, be gracious with yourself. The goal is to be with God. If you think of something you need to do later in the day, either hand that over to God or write it on a pad next to you to get back to your practice. No matter how long it lasts or how long it goes, trust that it is enough and what God needs it to be for you.