Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 294 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Principles of Spiritual Growth – Rest
Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 294 of our trek. Yesterday we hiked on the 14th trail of this trek, which was the Trail of The Process of Discipleship. Today we will explore a very important aspect of our overall trek, and that is the Trail of Rest.
There is a total of 18 trails on the trek we call the Principles of Spiritual Growth, which is adapted from a short book written by Miles J. Stanford. These practical lessons were instrumental in my spiritual growth as a young man seeking to create and live my legacy. As we continue on each trail of our overall trek, I trust that you will also find this information valuable in your own life, regardless of where you happen to be on your faith trek. Each of the trails that we hike builds on the previous one, so if you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen and read the daily journal.
We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. After several weeks of warmer than normal weather, it looks like this next week will be a bit cooler, especially since we will be farther north at The Big House for the next couple of weeks. As I mentioned, when we left from there the last time, the furnace has to be replaced due to a crack in the heat exchanger. Fortunately, the new furnace will be installed early this next week, so we should not be very many days without the furnace. All of the bedrooms do have gas inserts in them, and the kitchen/eating area has a separate large floor furnace. So, the house will not be without sources of heat. These situations are part of life, things wear out and break down, and we need to be prepared for these contingencies. In the same way, to make sure that our body, mind, and soul do not wear out prematurely, we need to exercise, eat properly, continue learning, and invest time in meditation and prayer. One very important area that I need to get better at is investing the proper time for sleep, rest, and relaxation.
As we head out on our hike for today, let us explore the very important Trail of Rest. This is the 15th of 18 trails which makes up the trek we call…
Principles of Spiritual Growth – Rest
To become more and more like the Master Christ requires a significant amount of focus on discipleship, which we explored during the past two days. Remember, first we must die to self, then be diligent in our growth, so that we can produce an abundant harvest, which will allow us to use that harvest to feed others that hunger and thirst for God’s justice. This process may appear to be exhausting. What this scenario of discipleship does not take into account is that God has already provided us with rest through this process.
An analogy that is used in Hebrews 3-4 is the comparison that the nation of Israel who disobeyed God when they refused to enter The Promise Land, which is referred to as God’s rest for them. The nation refused to listen to Moses and forfeited the rest for 40 years. Now someone greater than Moses is here, which is Christ. In Hebrews 3:3-4 it explains this, “But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a house deserves more praise than the house itself. For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God.”
What Moses and Joshua were unable to do was completely fulfilled in Christ. Hebrews 4:8-11 explains this, “Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.”
When we are obedient to the master, we will find rest in Him. We do not need to carry the burden of discipleship on us. To revisit a snippet of Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Christ tells us how to obtain the rest that we need as His disciple in Matthew [11:28]-29, “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
When we view our work and ministry as a burden to be endured, we will never find rest and peace in it, and we will grow weak and weary. When we are disobedient to God’s precepts in His Word, then even our “good” actions in other areas of life will become drudgery for us.
We certainly do need to make sure that we get the proper amount of sleep, this is vitally important. Sometimes we also just need to unplug from our daily tasks and plug into God for recharging as our master did in Luke 5:16, “But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.”
We also need to take the time to rest in God and his promises as described in one of my favorite passages Isaiah [40:28]-31,
Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
On our trek Principles for Spiritual Growth, today we learned the vital importance of obedience and plugging into God on the Trail of Rest. There are two factors for our rest to be complete. First, we are to be obedient to His Word, and second we need to put our trust in God for the strength that we need. When we do this, we will be able to carry on effectively every day on our Trek of Life. Following these two important factors will allow us to find rest for our souls, and once we have rested, we will find new strength to carry on. Tomorrow we will move onto our next trail which is the Trail of Help. Every trail that we hike will help us to create and live our legacy each day. So, encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
That will finish our podcast for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.
Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.
As we take this trek together, let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend to others Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!