Category: Rest

An old saying that dates to the Middle Ages identifies three significant obstacles to our resting in relationship with Christ: “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” The Bible affirms all three. It teaches we live in a fallen, broken world. We are born with a sin nature longing to put us instead of God on the throne of our lives. We also have an enemy who seeks to destroy our relationship with God. 

Why does finding rest feel so hard?

There are some obvious reasons:
- We live in an instant-gratification, more-is-more, hyper-stimulating world. When we live in an environment with no “off” switch, it is hard to say “no” because it doesn’t seem like anyone else is.

The story of Return and Rest begins more than a decade ago, in the summer of 2014. I was parenting and homeschooling my two sons, who were nine- and six-years-old at the time. I had recently taken on a leadership role in Classical Conversations, a national home education organization we were part of.

On paper the first full week of February looked very busy. My calendar held a number of meetings and appointments plus two day-long commitments bookending the week. 

Do you long to see more of God’s presence in your life? I suspect we all do. 
I heard a phrase this week that stood out to me about this. It was a line in a prayer...