Recently I wrote about living free from the pressure that drivenness and relentless striving puts us under, with the key being to find the source of true ‘rest’.
A reader later confided how years of ‘doing their best’ striving to achieve ‘success’ (by outward standards), had come at a cost to his marriage, family. health and overall wellbeing.
Murray Smith
Doing ‘our best’ in attempting anything in life, independently of God is a little like running a car designed for high octane petrol on old stale low octane fuel.
Relying upon God’s help, we tap into an ease and ‘rest’ resulting in our efforts being taken to levels beyond natural ability. It’s interesting historically how often Christ followers are those who’ve led the way meaningfully in areas of endeavour – be it in sciences, technology, arts, medicine, politics and so on.
My thoughts drifted to Michaelangelo. Late last year I gazed up at the breathtaking frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel while listening to an inspiring ‘in-ear’ audio commentary. Considered to be the greatest artistic genius that ever lived, Michaelangelo is synonymous with the word “masterpiece.” As a deeply spiritual man with a devout faith in God that deepened as he aged, he acknowledged that his art was divinely inspired.
George Frideric Handel was a remarkable composer who credited his musical gift to ‘being carried by God”. He is famous for composing the oratorio ‘Messiah’ in 1741 over three weeks without getting much sleep or eating much food. Handel’s servant discovered him in tears while writing the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus.
Photo: Brett Jordan. pexels.com
He exclaimed, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself seated on His throne, with His company of Angels”.
Self-effort alone, in seeking to become ‘good’ in any sense, will never be enough.
It’s interesting, most religions are all just about ‘doing your best’. By ticking off a bunch of certain deeds to accrue sufficient ‘credit’, there’s hope it will be enough… that you’ll appease some deity or produce suitable inner confidence that you’re on the right side of the ledger.
It’s an approach fraught with uncertainty since the measure is invariably made by comparing ourselves with other people. By that standard we’ll always convince ourselves we’re ‘somewhat’ good – certainly better that average anyway, since we can always find people worse than us. The uncertainty and wearisome weight of, ‘will my best efforts ever be enough?’ is too much to bear… and it’s futile.
The fact is they won’t. While we’re trained to ‘performance’, when it comes to matters of faith, our efforts alone do nothing to commend us to God… we’ve all fallen short.
Only one thing commends us to God – faith. Faith in Christ as Saviour and the free gift of salvation that makes us right with God… something that can never be earned. The Bible states it plainly and simply, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”.
There’s the source of true rest.
