Mistaking Busyness for Godliness

• We live in a culture that worships productivity, and it can be easy within the church to adopt that mentality and mistake our busyness for godliness.
• In difficult circumstances, the solution is not to take ourselves out of the moment, but to find relief by abiding with God in them.
• God practiced rest on the seventh day of creation, even before the work was finished, so Sabbath cannot be just something we do when everything else is done.

Jon Tyson on Sabbath: Mere Christians Podcast

The Burden is Light by Jon Tyson

Secret Place of Thunder by John Starke

Scripture

Genesis 1–2

Exodus 16

John 15

Psalm 46

I think that He holds that out for all of us believers that if we are obedient in the Sabbath because that is something He has instructed His people to do. Like He called us to be holy and set apart and a part of that is Sabbath thing and abiding and resting. He is going to be faithful and good in that moment. Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the Grace Church Podcast. I'm your host, Whitney Maynus here with Scott and Zingo. Hey, Scott.

Hey, Whitney. Good morning. Good morning. And in the studio today, our guest is Michaela Sanders from the Harrison Bridge campus and she's also on staff. She works with our students, gets to help create curriculum like the hard question series we talked about last fall, and she gets to work with our women as well, amongst many other responsibilities.

But particularly her work with women is how today's topic came about. Before we really dive into that, Michaela, thanks for being here. Yes, I'm excited. First time guest, yes, but long time listener, I'm sure. Obviously, obviously, for sure.

All right. Can you just give us a quick intro how you came to Grace, how long you been on staff, tell us about your family, all that good stuff. Yeah, so I actually started coming to Grace in high school. I was a Ford student myself. I came with another family that invited me and so I spent about 2 1/2 years here in Forge and then went off to college and after college got married. When we decided that we were going to move back, we had a six month old.

So we moved back home to be closer to family and we, I mean, we didn't even question where we were going to church. We came straight back to Grace and within months of being at Grace and being asked to work in student ministry or to serve in student ministry at the time, Christy Peterson was going off staff at Harrison Bridge and asked me to take her spot. So I mean, that happened in, I mean, 2-3 months. It was very quick.

So we have been back now for almost 7 years. We're coming up on seven years and I've been on staff for about 6 1/2. Nice, and I've got some sweet kiddos as well. Yes, we have 4 kids, so the six month old that we had moving back is now 7 and then we have three under him, youngest being nine months. Nice so y'all stay busy. Got plenty going on.

And then, yeah, our topic for today, you gave a talk to the Harrison Bridge women around a few different ideas, but you did a great job of putting them together, talked about striving and abiding and Sabbath. And we'll really get to dive into that. And certainly not just a topic for women, but how, how did this topic kind of first come up for you and why did you decide that? I think this would be helpful for our women. Yeah.

So we actually had a prayer conference first. We had a prayer conference that was in the fall. And when we did that prayer conference, we had a prayer wall as like a response element. And we had every woman that came put up just prayer requests and not even put their name on it, just in the prayer requests up. And that way as a response to the end of the night, we were able to pray over our people and our women. And as I was reading them, I mean, it was just filled with pain, heartache, suffering.

I think there is something about not having to put your name on it. People are willing to answer that honestly. So I just saw all the hurt our women were going through. We personally, as a family had just been through a lot.

And so I was just looking at it and I just, I felt clear over the next few weeks as I was thinking about that night and thinking about what our women needed for the spring, I got very clear on over and over the Lord just being like, hey, you can't take them out of their circumstance. Like you're looking for ways to relieve what they're going through. When actually it is so much more than that. It's not about pulling them out of it, but it's actually offering them something. And that's something being the Lord.

And that's really where through conversations with other people and just through what the Lord was doing in my own soul, Like this is a combination, like you just said, of abiding and Sabbath. And I mean really, at the end of the day, just trusting the Lord and what that looks like for their life. Yeah, absolutely. No, that's so powerful. And I just love the way that our staff and our leaders are thinking about like they were paying attention to what our people need and having conversations and getting to see that reality and then getting to step into it.

But this is also personal for you. You know, in your talk you mentioned a little bit of just you're in the weeds on it and trying to learn it as well. So yeah, how you just seen some of those difficulties and challenges appear in your own life? Yeah.

So I mentioned like we had just gone through a real tough time. So about a month before this prayer conference, we had a health emergency with our youngest. So at the time of the health emergency, he was 4 weeks old. And there, I mean, truly there was a period of time where we did not know if he would live. And that period of time was a week.

But before that moment that it the emergency happened, we knew something was going on. And so we saw signs of all that. We were taking him to the doctor and finally he had gotten into a specialist.

But between finally getting the doctor to recognize and take a serious and the specialist, it was about two days. And in those two days, and I didn't see this in the moment. But looking back on it, it's just funny because I just, I mean, having the house clean was somehow going to fix the like chaos in my soul. Like I tried so hard to control my outside circumstances and get everything to settle on the outside so that the inside would be settled. And I just felt about the second day, so the day before we went to the doctor, we just had a ton of people praying for us.

And I felt just this overwhelming amount of peace come over me to just stop to stop trying to control everything around me and stop just trying to make the chaos slow down. Because there was no, again, there was no taking me out of the current circumstance or him. It was there was something else much bigger. They could come over me and provide that comfort that I was striving for. And that was the Lord.

And so it was just so weird, like over the next 48 hours when we go to the specialist, the the emergency arose like minutes after we saw this specialist and got some blood drawn. I can't look back at that moment without thinking like, Oh my gosh, the Lord was all over that. Like the Lord just there was so many things. I mean, all the way up to like Matt Kelly and Lee Austin were standing in the emergency room as soon as we got the results that our son was having a brain bleed. Like I, I don't even know how he got there that fast.

Like, but like the Lord was just covering us every step of the way. And it's just funny because now looking back at that, I see how the Lord was preparing us, me specifically, for once we got out of that health emergency, the second week we were in the hospital, I was very alone. My husband had to go back to work. He had to go take care of our other three kids. And I was completely by myself. And that became that room.

I mean, it's a fishbowl that it's like people can see in that room. There's no privacy in the pediatric ICU. There's none. And I just sat there and I remember days of prayer, of journaling out prayers of like, I don't understand why this happened. This is hard to wrap your mind around. I feel like I, I can't even, my mind can't even keep up.

But like, the Lord met me and all that. Yeah, to where there are moments where I miss that room, which is so weird. I never thought I would say that that like I would never want to go through that again.

But the amount that I saw the Lord in those two weeks, I mean, I could never, I could never give that back. And so very personal to me. This is what this all looks. Like, yeah, absolutely, very real, very tangible and and in some ways applied in like almost the highest pressure that you could get it. And we and we do have a lot of our people who are living those circumstances every day. And then a lot of times it is just the day-to-day pressures and schedules and we're busy and life, life is just hard kind of no matter how we twisted for sure.

So what did you kind of how did you start on this talk? Like what were some of the misconceptions that through that experience, you saw it yourself, You started seeing in our women and in our men about just our time. And it's like how we're managing our emotions in some ways. Yeah, I mean, I said it before, but I got very clear and I I really, this was not me. I mean, I feel like the Lord was very clear with me. There's no, it's not about taking them out of the circumstance.

The relief doesn't come in being pulled out. And so as I'm like recognizing that I'm like, OK, then where's the relief coming from? And that was when like through studying and just through a lot of prayer, I just realized like, it's not about coming out of it. It's actually allowing the Lord to be in it with us. Like he's already taken their steps towards us being open to him being in that with us and what he has for us in those moments. I think what really stood out to me though, is in a lot of ways I think we avoid doing it because it's hard.

Yeah. I mean, sitting with the Lord and just letting him move in my life, like, I mean, that's hard. Yeah, it's easy to just be busy it. Is it is because then I don't have to process, right? I don't have to think about all the hard. And if we can then exchange or equate, you know, striving and working to godliness, then that just fits right in with the, the, the natural bent of our flesh, which is to just work and work and work and work and work and, and control.

I mean, I'm, I'm, I thought about the irony that we feel like alleviating the pain and the suffering is the path to blessing. And no one, we don't, no one wants to suffer and we don't want to watch anybody suffer. But the irony is that we feel like we have the ability to do that because we have so many resources, right? We live in such a amazing, prosperous country town in the world, resources at our fingertips, technology, all of that.

But it, it creates this real sense of false security for sure. And then this false perception that the, the striving is godliness. So you had a forced stoppage, right? Yeah. What was your relationship to striving before that? I mean, young mom, 4 kids, job.

I mean, what's going on? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's it's hard not to worship productivity. Yeah, talk about that. Yeah. I mean like for me, settled for me is I have taken care of everybody.

I mean the family, the husband, I've taken care of that. My house is clean, I've exercised that day and I've done my job. I, I mean, I, I work.

So I, I've done that well, and if I can hit all those things for me, it's funny how you can sleep better. But then the ironic thing, and even as I was studying for this, I mean, I had to be honest with myself that like I all that did was wake me up the next day and that same To Do List that I achieved yesterday. Yes, it starts over. It was the same one for today.

And so it was a cycle. And if I couldn't hit all those things, then I was a failure, you know? So you had a scorecard in your head? For sure.

And so where's God? Is God like the teacher that's grading you? I think a little bit of that. I do, I think, but I also think I allow like how my, like, if my husband's happy with me or not, or if my kids are being good kids, I let those be the scorecard. And then I also let those be the thing that like I'm worshipping.

And so God is just like this good idea in theory, but not something that I'm resting in or, you know, using the language of abiding, like I'm not abiding in. It's just like another piece of the To Do List for me. And I think it's funny because I'm type A, my husband's type B. And so I'm very much on the structure to like, I like the To Do List and I like to get things done.

And so it's funny that I feel like it plays out differently for different personalities, right? So like God is on my To Do List, but I would definitely think like the way my husband's been is that it's a scorecard. And so it's just funny how like that that plays out differently for a different personality. What? What does it look like for him to be on your To Do List? What type of activities are you doing?

You know, I mean, it's like, did I get to the end of the day and did I have time to read his word? Did I have time to pray? And it's funny, like I, I've always my whole life, I've always spent time praying before I go to bed. And if I if I'm not careful, that prayer time becomes about what are the things that I haven't already prayed about today? Again, it's another To Do List, right? And that's just some of how I'm bent and wired.

But yeah, I mean, I feel guilty if I don't spend time in his word, if I go several days without that that that weighs on me. And I think it's more so out of the fact that I haven't accomplished, but I feel like I should as a Christian. Less about the relationship not being cultivated and more so really more about you and less about him. It's. Much more about me, which is funny because I do think the American culture is very much time is about me, time is mine. And when we view time as mine, then we see it as OK, time can buy me things like time can buy me success.

It can buy me money in some cases. I mean, more time equals more money. I think it can buy us more time with people. It can further relationships like it. I mean, it truly is a currency, especially in the American culture.

And so I just think, oh, if I just have more time than I can accomplish all the things and I will feel settled. It's about me feeling settled. And we talk about a lot of different idols as a way of like self soothing or finding comfort. And you know, it's whether it's drugs or sex or even less insidious things just escape like social media.

But we don't really think about time as like, oh, I can just if I can do all these things with my day and accomplish the things that I need to, then I will feel OK. And like, we're self medicating ourselves even with our schedules. And that the reverse is also true. If we can't hold all of that together, then we are just like, not OK, yeah, with ourselves, you know?

But that is, it's another category for sure. So if time is not mine, time belongs to God, but time is limited. I worship productivity and the results in this kind of striving performance mindset, then how do I go about turning, changing, moving into with limited time? How do I use that time for good? Yeah, without the crisis. I mean, the crisis brings everything to a halt, but like, how do I do that in the everyday.

What did you. Yeah. How did you lead? Yeah in. That discussion, yeah, I think the everyday, I think you have to be honest with yourself. I think we, you had brought it up before, but I think some of the reason we avoid the stillness and being with the Lord is because we're avoiding being honest with ourself, taking inventory and being honest.

And I think we can't deal with any of this on a heart level if we can't acknowledge the fact that we have a problem to begin with. Like we do have to acknowledge the problem and then we have to figure out what our bins are. Like I told you, like my personality has a bend.

And so it's taken people around me acknowledging that for me it's taken, you know, my I said my husband's very different from me. I mean, it's taken him calling me out on things of like you run this family and you run yourself based on A to do list. And that is what deems like you being settled or you being happy or you being disappointed, you know, or stressed. And and it can look very, can make you look very successful in other people's eyes, which is where the self deception comes from, right?

Yes, which also I think is why we are drawn to other people's issues. Yeah, because then we don't have to worry about our own. For sure, for sure, yeah, yeah. And that and I think that that was some of the sweetness of this for me is that the Lord like allowed me to see the hurting and other people and that's what really got me down this trajectory.

But the entire time I'm just very, I'm getting very clear on what he wants for me in this process. And so even in talking to our women at HBI, told them from the jump, I'm like, y'all, this is for me. Like I'm just telling you what the Lord has taught me and convicted me of and how He's just changed my heart in the process. Yeah.

So can you explain a little bit? I think that a lot of times there's tiredness and then there's like this deeper kind of a weariness that you're talking about when it comes to striving. Like, like we do want to be tired. We want to work hard, we want to spend our time well and steward it well.

But like, at what point does it really start to become a little bit more nefarious and dangerous? Risk especially? Yeah, because being tired is not wrong at all. I would say with this idea of weariness, I think that it's something that is more prolonged over time. And I think what's sneaky about weariness is that it's like tiredness that is just compounding. And at first it's not bad, but then all of a sudden you look back and you're like, shoot, I am just completely worn out and completely overextended.

And so I think when we recognize that we're starting to have a loss of will, a loss of strength, that we wake up in the mornings and already dreading the day, I'm just completely exhausted. Because I do think, you know, like for me, exercise is energy expenditure, but it fills my cup. Sure. And I think you can get to the point within weariness where you have worked yourself so hard and exhausted yourself, where there's no filling cup. You are just empty, you know. Yeah, you've moved beyond the physical, mental work and recovery to some kind of soul exhaustion.

And I think it's weird because it mixes emotions. It, it's got this mental stress, it's got spiritual stress to it. Your physical body starts responding. I mean, I, I've felt for real feel like people can get like physically sick when they're in a state of weariness. For sure. And we've talked before about the idea of chronic stress, which definitely applies here, but the word chronic of like it's ongoing, it's continuing.

You're like, I don't know that seasonally I'm going to get out of this anytime soon. And even just I mean, there, there are certain circumstances as well, if you're caregiving, if you're in a season of grief that we're sure, you know, this, there's just a different layer to all of this that we want to acknowledge. And so, you know, those are those are separate conversations. Yeah.

Well, then, I mean, as with all things, we want to talk about the Bible, talk about Scripture, any kind of rude. We don't just want to offer insight or good ideas, although we like to think that we have them. As you were kind of studying and preparing this talk, like what were some scriptures that came up that were really? Helpful for you? Yeah, I mean, the first time rest is introduced is in the creation order, which is intentional and purposeful.

So one of my favorite things that I just as I was reading and studying that I learned was how. The 7th day of rest is just so unique. Only two times does God bless creation. He calls creation good, but only two times does he bless it. And it's one when he makes man, and then the other time is on the day of rest. And just how beautiful that that is, that the God of creation who didn't take time to rest because he was tired or run out, he doesn't need that.

He doesn't need that. No, he took the moment to rest. I mean, he was able to look back at all he had done in the created order and he was able to marvel at the work that he had done. And then what's interesting about Genesis in the way that the creation account is written is that a lot of scholars believe that there is this day and night. There's this beginning and end to all of the days of creation except for the 7th day and stylistically writing it that way is implying that there isn't really just this neat beginning and end.

And then the other thing for me, like I said, my personality bend is 1 to get list done. God rested and creation wasn't done. Like he still went on to create a woman to create Even.

So that's just so fascinating to me that he was like, let me pause and let me look back and then I'll keep going. But I'm not going to pause or look back because I'm done, because I'm done, because I'm finished, you know? The goal wasn't completion. It wasn't. Yeah. Work was good, yes. And rest was good, Yeah.

And some of that is probably to set an example for us, and then some of it is probably like the idea of enjoyment, right? It's like I make good things and it's OK to enjoy that and look at it, you know, so. Which was part of the creation of Eve. It's like, Oh well, he's not he's not enjoying life right now not good for him to be alone.

So let's let's make a helper. You know so. And the practical piece for that for me has been like, if my kids are always just To Do List tasks, like the things that they need, if I'm only viewing my kids that way, I'm not enjoying not enjoying them, you know?

So I mean, there's a very practical piece. Well, OK, so push it one level more with God's on the To Do List, Yeah. Then how are you enjoying him? I'm not. Yeah, I'm not. And I'm and I also don't think I'm truly learning about him like I'm I'm going to scripture and looking for things I think I need, like I need wisdom on a thing or I want to learn about something.

And so I'm always picturing his word as A to do list in a way to achieve something I want. Yeah. And so like I, yeah. It's not it's bad, but it's good insight. I mean, I am glad that he pricked my heart around for sure though. No for sure.

What other texts kind of stood out to you as you were studying? Yeah, I mean, I would definitely say just learning about the Israelites being in the wilderness. I think I was coming out of a wilderness moment. I mean, I mentioned it, but that second week of being in the hospital was a wilderness moment for me. I was alone and I had already seen the way that God was faithful and I actually started listing out all the names of our nurses that just met me in certain moments. And I have a journal full of their names and what they did for me in a moment, 'cause I never wanted to forget that.

But I was just very clear that the Lord had the right person in the right moment. And I so like with the Israelites being in the wilderness, like God had given them provisions. He had already proven His faithfulness.

But it's so funny, 'cause they got stuck in this cycle of like, do I still obey? Is God still going to be faithful? Because I mean, the Israel, I can make myself one of the Israelites real easy. Like there were young moms with kids. There were Israelites who were caring for elderly parents, like they, they were dads who had to protect their family out in the middle of nowhere. Like we are, we are, we can put ourselves in the place of the Israelites.

And so when you think of them that way, you realize like, OK, their disobedience isn't for all from the things that distract me, you know? And so that was interesting, just studying that and studying how they were taught the Sabbath and why God extended it out to them. And really it was, hey, trust me, like I'm the one that is going to sustain you. And that's what he was trying to get them to understand.

But then I think Jesus is very clear about that too in the New Testament for us and this idea that he is the vine and that we are the branches and the hope that was held out for us. And all of that was the fact that if I'm, if I stay attached to the vine, I may go through seasons of weariness. Where when I gave this talk, it was right at the like turn of winter to spring, which was just really sweet picture of like you're going to have barren seasons, like where you don't feel like you're producing much fruit.

And it feels like I just don't have much life in me. You are going to have seasons of that. But as long as you stay attached to Jesus and stay attached to the vine, then spring is always coming. And that is just such a beautiful picture for us as believers, that even if we do have those seasons, it is OK.

But Jesus just tells us return. Yeah, return, remain, stay connected. And I mean and I think the word there is abiding talk a little bit about how that flesh itself out. Yeah. Yeah.

So, you know, abiding is hard because as I'm saying, hey, stop striving, I'm also saying, hey, we need to abide. And so there's work to be done. Yeah, what's the difference? Yeah, I think that abiding looks very different because it's not about what I can get from it. I think there are benefits for us from it, for sure.

But the blessing and the sustaining and the faithfulness is coming from the Lord. That's the source. It is the source. Yeah.

And so, I mean, I, I keep going back to the hospital for us, but like, that was just so clear to me that I had nothing to get us out of that moment. I had nothing to save us from that moment. But the Lord entered into all of that. And there were just quiet moments of, oh, like, he, he loves me. He adores me. I mean, one of those moments was it was late one night.

It was dark. I was the only one up. And I look outside and of the fishbowl that we were in, I look out that window and there is a sweatshirt that one of the nurses was wearing that said I am the true vine. And on the back of her sweatshirt when she turned around. That's cool. Yeah.

On the back of her sweatshirt was the lyrics to the song talking about the goodness of God and that his faithfulness and his goodness has no end. And I'm like, OK, OK, I can't make this up. I can't make this up. Because that's not like Philippians 413 on a sweatshirt. Like that's very specific. Very specific and it was just the combination of the two things I needed to hear and to know.

And so I think abiding looks like that. I think that means you are open to what the Lord wants for you. I think that means sometimes we're quiet. I mean, sometimes I think it is. I think sometimes it's writing in the car and a whispered prayer that you say. I think it's just letting God be a part of the day-to-day moments.

It's not, you know, making an hour to read scripture necessarily, but just being open to what He has for you to reveal to you. Yeah. I think one of the ironies is that we think abiding remaining is very passive.

So we don't like it, but I would argue that it's very active. It's requires diligence that if you go back and just read the passage from John 15, you're going to see the word love mentioned 9 different times over 9 verses. So it feels like there's a very strong connection that John's trying to get us to understand is that the love of God received in US demonstrates in love towards him and love for others. And like love is active, love is hard, true love. The way we think about love is, is more like self-serving love, love on my terms and receive love and love the people that I want to love.

But like, love is hard. Like it abiding through the sense, through the lens of love, loving God, even when I don't understand, even when I don't fully, yeah, comprehend what he's doing. But like, trust, like that's not easy, you know, So, but you know, it's like, we've got that. That's one option or this other like To Do List. Is there other option?

And so the way I think about it, and maybe this is just for me, but I try to think about it, Am I doing something that is producing fruit or that's just being productive? Like I want to aim not for productivity. I want to aim for fruitfulness and maybe sweating hairs there.

But I really try to go back to the language of John 15. Remain in me. You'll bear much fruit. So then like, OK, well, what is the fruit?

Well, the fruit is not getting a bunch of stuff done as much as it is love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and gentleness and faithfulness and goodness and self-control. And when I see people, I typically don't see or commend those characteristics, those virtues in real life. I tend to, I tend to see them for what they do, what they produce and affirm that as opposed to the fruit in their life.

And so that's just been a point of correction for me over the last few years and just how I view people, how I, what I say to people, how I think about others. And I think it really comes back to how do I see myself with God and then do I see myself a child receiving the Father's love. Therefore I'm obeying him because he has good things for me. He loves me. It's funny because in this passage in just John 15, there's this crazy, it looks like it's crazy when you read it out of context. It says if you remain in me and what my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted.

OK, well, the To Do List productivity model is like, oh, I just found a genie, like God's going to give me all my desires. And so you stop and go. What was he? What was he trying to communicate there?

Well, it's like, OK, if you're staying connected to the vine, remaining in me, love me, receive my love, then your desires, they're all conforming, they're all changing. They're all moving into like God's will. So then it's like, yeah, I can't ask because I have the mind of Christ. Like I'm thinking about the things I care about, the things that God cares about.

And so like, that was just like a poof. I was like, Oh well that really does put it and it's either in one bucket or or the other. How I even take a a verse like that and try to interpret and apply it in my own life.

So. Yeah, no, that's so good. I mean, at the risk of counteracting a little bit of what we're talking about, if we can make this a little practical, 'cause we're talking about Sabbath, we're talking about abiding, we're talking about rest. And it's hard to figure out like what that looks like. And I think that there's a lot of examples for us in culture of whether it's self-care or just binge watching something like there's there's ways to rest that are not what Scott is talking about of producing fruit.

But what, what kind of thoughts would y'all offer in terms of how do we actually rest? And maybe that's the the productivity person in me being like, So what do I do? No, it is, you know. That is funny, yeah. I mean, one thing that I have started doing is kind of taking back the time that I'm already doing things.

So even for my own kids, you know, to be able to model this for them, is how do we take back car rides? Like, how do we make those same moments intentional? It's less to me about, you know, carving out more moments or more spaces for more things and more about how does God just meet me where I'm at? And I got to see that first hand in a crisis moment.

But I mean, I just believe that the Lord can do that in your day-to-day life and moment by moment. And so, and some of it is that he has brought this all to surface for me. And so I'm very aware of it. And I do have to take my thoughts captive in moments where I notice I am letting what I can accomplish be who I am. And instead of resting in who God has created me to be and the identity that I have in him and I'm an image bearer of him.

And so when I rest in that, and I can take those thoughts captive and just be captivated by that, then I can be like, Oh, well, like I'm God's creation and he is my sustainer. He sustains our life. And that, I don't know, that impacts every moment. It doesn't. It's not carving out more moments. It's letting him be in the moment that I'm in right now, you know? Yeah.

I love that using the time we already have and I think it's got to, it's got to be scheduled, right, intentional. If it's if it's not something that is intentional on your calendar, it's probably not going to happen. And what I mean by that is just some idea of Sabbath, whether that's a day for you or whether that's an afternoon. And then it gets super complicated when we try to make it Sunday in church because tons of folks listen to this or serving and working really hard on Sunday. And it doesn't feel like a Sabbath.

It doesn't feel like they're resting. But you just got to stop from your normal everyday work. Yeah. And it's, that's the first step, right? Like you just got to cease working.

So like going to church, serving, that's a different kind. I wouldn't put that in the same category because often times we leave that and then we just start looking at our phones and we start checking our emails and we start looking at text messages or we start putting our To Do List together for Monday. Like that's not Sabbath, right?

So like you've got, you've got to stop, cease so that you can create some space to rest. And then I think in that resting is where you're talking about Michaela is just really embracing the Father's goodness and our true identity in him. But like, I don't, I don't, it's hard to do that when I'm working. It is so hard. Yeah, particularly if I'm not working.

Well, if I'm working for the, the, the purpose of, of, of, of striving and I'm bringing God into, into my To Do List. But if I cease working and I rest both mentally and physically, something about that scheduled reminder, it helps me understand I'm not what I do, but it's who I'm loved by. Like that's where my true identity comes from. Yeah. And I think there is something to the like whenever we go to rest, like am I still trying to fix myself? Am I still trying to solve a problem?

Am I trying to escape from something or dumb from something? Or am I bringing myself to the Father, asking him to come be present with me and asking him to care for me and not, not solve my problems, not Take Me Out of the circumstance that I find myself in? But just like, like Michaela was talking about like that peace that comes, you know, whether it's through prayer or just what, what whatever abiding does look like, you know that you're depending on the Lord for all of that. Yeah, and the and the fact I mean, work is good here is correctly work.

We were created to work for sure. Work is not a product of the fall cursed work is a product of the fall thorns and thistles. But we were created to work, to bear fruit.

And so sometimes we get that mixed up because we don't take a break from it. So then it feels like a burden all the time, or it feels like the only thing that I have to do in order to create goodness for myself as opposed to seeing the glory of God in all of my work. So when you when you take a Sabbath and when you cease, you get rest and it prepares you to go back to work, you know, to bear God's image and to create.

And so, yeah, there's probably a longer conversation in there around around the work and Sabbath. But ultimately you kind of took us down this path of striving that leads to weariness abiding that should result in some kind of rest. And it seems like Sabbath is the gospel. Hope I think is what you. Said, I mean, it is what the Lord holds out for us that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. I mean, he took all the rules and regulations that group of people felt around the Sabbath and said, no, no, no, no, hold on it.

It's resting in me. It's not all these rules or strict regulation. And so I would say that too, like we've got to hold on to the like the promise and the hope that not everything has to be accomplished for us to abide.

So when people say, well, I don't have time for Sabbath, OK, well, God paused in the creation order and we have to be good with, OK, not everything's complete. But this is where my life source is. My life source is not in the things that I'm accomplishing or doing, which is what the American culture would say is true.

So we can't hold that as ultimate. We have to cause and rest and actually go to our life source to be sustained. And all of that has to be so rooted in the truth of the gospel because otherwise, like our feelings will lie to us. Because for someone who's not used to abiding or like you were talking about depending on our bent, like I am very high responsibility.

And so when I go to abide, I'm like, I feel like I'm being irresponsible. Am I being lazy right now? You know, or it just feels like something's wrong. And if I trust those feelings, then I'm never going to abide 'cause I'm like feels like I'm doing the wrong thing. It can be like I'm sinning, you know, but like that is that has to be counteracted with the truth of Scripture of God is in charge. God is responsible and apart from Christ, I can do nothing and God will never abandoned me.

Like I can be safe and secure here, you know. So some of it is, I mean, we just have to know the Scripture, we have to know the gospel and apply that to all of these. Yeah. And I like I would even say for, you know, you and I admitting that like our personal events are that way from everything that we've walked through over the last nine months, the Lord has been so gracious to us in the way that He's just shown that like his faithfulness and His goodness is something we get to experience. And I think that he holds that out for all of us believers that if we are obedient in the Sabbath because that is something he has instructed his people to do.

Like he called us to be holy and set apart. And a part of that is Sabbath thing and abiding and resting. I hold and cling on or cling to the promise that He is going to be faithful and good in that moment, in the abiding, and that He'll take care of all the things that I'm worried about or feel like is going to fall to the wayside if I take this time. Because it is something that He has asked me to be obedient in. And I just believe truly that He will be faithful in that. Yeah, Psalm 4610 is kind of ringing in my ears now.

Depending on which translation, it's either cease striving or be still and know that I am God. I think that's what you're describing for sure. Like that. That knowledge is not a mental knowledge. It's an experiential. It is settling of the soul.

And, and sometimes that comes when we're laying in a hospital room and we can't do anything. But how? What a blessing it would be to be able to get there in other ways each and every day, so that we could understand. And really know the Father's love and all that.

So sure, that's great. Thank you, Michaela. Yeah, Michaela, thanks for just sharing. And I mean, just telling us your story and being vulnerable with all of that. Would you mind just praying for our people and just that we would be people who abide and just remain connected to the vine? Yeah.

For sure. Do you have any father? I just thank you for all just the work that you've done in my own life and just all the different things that you're teaching me and our family about you and I just pray over everyone that is just listening to these words. I pray that you will just make clear the path before them that you will help them to discern what it looks like to make a biting a part of their regular life as a rhythm in their life. God, I just I've watched you be faithful and good and all of this with my own walk and in our families.

And so I just pray the same for all of our people in our church. And I thank you for being the vine, for holding out the hope that spring is always coming and that when we do mess up and we have seasons where we feel barren and feels like those desert movements. I just, I'm thankful that you have always just had open arms for us to return to you. And I just pray that you will just teach our people that continue teaching me that be gracious to me when I need to be to return. And I just pray the same thing for our people really sings in your name.

Thanks again for listening to the Grace Church Podcast. I'm so grateful to Michaela for sharing her story and wisdom with us. This topic is helpful for you. We've linked another podcast in the show notes featuring Pastor John Tyson talking about Sabbath and rest. He explains more about Marva Don's 4 categories of Sabbath thing, ceasing, resting, embracing, and feasting.

So be sure to check that out. You'll never miss an episode of the Grace Church Podcast. Be sure to follow us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. We would also love if you'd leave us a review and comment your feedback. Let us know what topics you'd like to hear more about and how we can continue to have conversations that equip you in your spiritual formation. See you next time.