Friday, December 29, 2006

Book Review: The Rest of God

I've never read a book about Sabbath before; about rest. And I'm not very good at it. I took about three months to read this book. Mark Buchanan is one of my favorite writers and he only comes out with a book about once a year, so I don't like to finish the book too quickly.

His writings are like Philip Yancey's. If you like Yancey, you'll like Buchanan. His books make you think about where you are with the Lord.

God's rest is provided for us to revive, rejuvenate, and give up control. If you want to get better at these things, read this book.

Quotes from the book:

Quiet yourself. Reflect on the day. When were you most alive? What were you doing then, thinking, saying, seeing? When were you most empty? What was going on at that moment? When did it seem God was close, and when did he seem he was far away? Practice that each day.
This is something I'm trying to implement daily in my journaling and quiet time...

A well-kept Sabbath is a dress rehearsal for things above. In finding the rest of God now, we prepare for the fullness of God one day. In Sabbath, we anticipate forever.

"Faith," the writer of Hebrews says, "is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is clarity about that. It is a tenacious conviction that this world is not enough and was never intended to be. It is a steadfast refusal to seek untimate things -- ultimate understanding -- where God has not laid them. Not one ultimate thing is stored down here.

Community is fragile, and even amid close friends we feel a little lonely.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm not very good at Sabbath resting, any day of the week. If it has to do with giving up control, I'm *really* not good at it! I have done it enough times to know it's possible, but not nearly enough for it to have become easy.

Good post.