Achieving Rest- to the Praise of His Glory

Today I have rested. I didn’t want to, but I was too tired and sick to take a trip to visit a farm I’ve been trying to plan for most of this month. So I semi-reluctantly slept a lot, drank as much as I could, coughed a lot, and read some through the morning into the afternoon. It has been good to be reminded in my sickness how insufficient I am all by myself. My visible achievement for today has been to rest. And for today I am satisfied with resting because of what I have been reminded of that I learned in the past, the truths I am learning today, and all that will come in learning in the tomorrows to come. So I learn the greatest achievements I make are by the grace of God. For from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things; to Him be the glory and praise.

Here is the first stanza of a poem my friend Mario recently wrote:
Born a jagged stone, tossed and spun,
vertigo in life’s rock tumbler.
He awaits the hammer and chisel.
Fated to be a muscular masterpiece,
erected onto the stage of greatness.
A postured statue: polished and marveled;
envied by the world’s passing tourists;
lit by flashbulbs and glossy-eyed onlookers.
This is what a young man believes
about his destiny. Others all affirm,
“What passion, what vision he has.”

Greatness. There is something in us that longs to be great. The desire to be great has fueled success for many people in sports and business. I too have been inspired and longed to be great. The external achievements of one who is ‘doing well’ easily bring the affirmations of others.

Here’s one way to see what I’m getting at: In the movie Shakiest Gun in the West Don Knotts’ character Jesse Haywood begins to believe he is really something with a gun after some great ‘successes.’ He receives much praise from everyone around and believes he himself was great. It makes for a hilarious movie, but also a picture of sometimes how we deal with God’s grace, gifts, and providence in our life. We begin to think that we ourselves are really something quite great. This leads us to attempt our next activities in our own strength; like the gunfight with Arnold the Kid. Doc the Haywood begins to walk in pride for his own greatness. In the end Don Knotts’ character learns his true source of success- it wasn’t his own skills, but an outside source, Penelope. Penelope for this analogy is like God, contentedly caring for us and saving us. Now this isn’t a tight analogy, but it gives a fun picture of think we’re something great when we’re not.

Directly speaking, as we are made is God’s image we do have something to be boastful of, but we shouldn’t for it it God who has made us and sustains us by his greatness and grace. Why would we worship the created rather than the creator? But we do. Part of the sin of Adam was the grab for personal greatness, ability, and knowledge for himself. Adam was told by the serpent, “…you will be like God knowing…” Adam went for being great on his own- to be like god he could be his own god. When God gave the Law to Moses the first command was “I am the Lord your God… have no other gods besides me.” And the second was to not make an image to worship.

We are not created unto our own glory that we may make a name for ourselves and receive much praise and glory from the world for all the good things we have done and for all the greatness we achieve. Jesus’ disciples had been with him, saw his mighty wonders, and heard his teachings, yet they argued amongst themselves who was to be regarded as the greatest. Jesus gives an interesting answer. He says ‘become like servants’, and that even he himself came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. It seems we are called to believe that we cannot save ourselves, we are not great. In fact all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. So, in the end we will all bow to the only greatest- the King of kings and Lord of lords- Jesus.

The next time I feel bummed that I’m sick and down and can’t ‘do’ what I think I want to do I hope I will more quickly recall that it’s not in what I do, but in abiding in Christ that is my achievement to pursue. For apart from Christ I can do nothing. And all that I do is to the praise of his glory.