The following is an excerpt from Ultimate Rest by David Hewitt. It’s a featured Speakeasy selection, and there are still limited review copies available for qualified reviewers.
The Insouciant Believer
It would be so easy to misunderstand this message about rest! Yet it is all about the Source; the outcome will probably look different for each of us, as we are unique example of his workmanship, his poiema (Gk.).
We were made for this abundant life, for community, for inner freedom and rest. So often when people become converted and describe themselves as believers, their nascent delight and joy gets quickly tempered by the ‘manufacturing processes’ of institutional Christianity, and what was organic, free and full of life gets squeezed though a mould of performance and expectation. God however is not interested in outward appearances per se, or in the veneer of spirituality often applied through religious mindsets. He is interested rather in us discovering our life in in him, and he in us, and our participation in this blissful relationship (otherwise termed the Kingdom of God). He is in us in the warp and weft of our daily lives; he does not get shocked by anything; he is never disappointed with us or disillusioned when we trip up. ‘Jesus is in you—not the Sunday morning version of you, but the broken you, the real you as you are.’
Yet like children dressed initially in school clothes too big for us, we grow (or mature) to fill out who we really are now. God reveals his glory in us. Of course, as we ‘put on Christ’ (Rom 13:14, Eph 3:27) we naturally cooperate; David Torrance noted how the Greek verb here uses the middle voice, and as with helping a child into a coat, implies a participation, a cooperation of the recipient.2 Have you ever tried putting a coat onto an uncooperative child?! Yet the provision, the work, is all of the parent.
It was often the metanoia, the ‘thinking again from a different perspective’, that led the Christian mystics through the ages to times of ecstasy, as they meditated on what Christ had done. We are all unique and may find some ways more helpful than others, but making space for contemplation and meditation is of proven benefit.
Living ‘present’ frees us from what Wm. Paul Young describes as ‘future-tripping’ or living in the regret for things past. Jesus gave seven famous ‘I AM’ statements in John’s Gospel3 and declared to the enraged, hyper-religious Pharisees that ‘before Abraham was born, I am’ (John 8:56-59), making a direct link to God’s self-revelation in Exodus 3. They understood clearly what he was saying: I am God incarnate. While there is nothing wrong in planning ahead or having a budget, the emphasis comes back to where we find our source, our strength, our place of rest. He wants to be the environment our lives thrive in, day by day, as with simple trust we participate in the life of the Godhead. Worry robs us of peace, affects our health, our families, our wellbeing …. We were not made for that!
Life is sometimes quite messy, but God is very much with us in the contradictions, the questions, the loose ends … even the Apostle Paul admitted that at times he was perplexed (2 Cor 4:8) as he travelled preaching Christ to the world of his day. He reminds his readers that, formed from clay, we are like fragile clay jars. Yet the emphasis is not on the frailty, but on the glory contained within:
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves (2 Cor 4:7).
We have been placed in a vast garden to explore–a safe place. It’s as if there is a rock garden, an arboretum, there are herbaceous plants for scent and colourful beauty, plants for food, pools, waterfalls, dramatic escarpments, wide open spaces…
Julian of Norwich was a late 14th-century English mystic who had remarkable insights into the nature of the Trinity, and the love of God. Julian became an anchorite–a medieval role in which a woman would devote her life to contemplation and prayer, enclosed in a cell or rooms adjoining a church building. There, over the next twenty years she meditated on the visions she had received and gained a beautiful revelation of the goodness of God. Our ultimate rest is closely woven with our understanding of the goodness of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
She saw motherhood there, and the depth of love in the Godhead. In the open wounds of Christ, she saw a ‘resting place for humanity’–true rest in his completed work. As Brother Lawrence was later to see, Julian describes how we receive our essential nurture and sustenance through the broken body of the Lord.
Although rest is not achieved as a ‘work’ we do, the laying down, yielding and forgetting of our self is clearly an aspect of the grace-life, for the narcissistic, self-centred person will struggle, as they will always be trying to make things right through their own efforts. The Apostle Paul says, in the context of discussing the immorality of the day, ‘You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price’ (1 Cor 6:19b-20a). This sense of us having been purchased and being God’s possession, in a positive sense, is a recurring theme.
Apparently English speakers learned the word ‘insouciance’ from the French in the 1700s. It referred to a relaxed and calm state: a feeling of not worrying about anything. This may seem idealistic but there is good biblical precedent for such an approach. Maybe this is what Paul was envisioning in Philippians 4:6-7. In contemporary speech, we could say, ‘Talk through everything at the beginning of the day or before things happen. And (if you cannot understand it all) be thankful for what you can see God is doing. God’s peace becomes the hallmark of the day.’
Life is not always easy, however, and relationships can become complicated. All of us, from time to time, can feel overwhelmed by circumstances. How do we approach life in such a way as to retain a healthy insouciance, when surrounded by challenges? So much depends on our mindset, hence the call for metanoia, thinking differently. I once heard how a family who had lost a child would approach the anniversary positively, saying, ‘It is best to attack the day rather than be overwhelmed by it.’ It can be helpful to develop a strategy to deal with recurring issues of the mind.
It can take time to detox from a religious mindset! It is like a pernicious weed that spreads … we think we have pulled it up, only to find it popping up again. Give yourself time, immerse yourself in the finished work of the Lover of your Soul, the Saviour of the World. His intention all along is that you dwell in his ultimate rest.
Praise for Ultimate Rest
“David Hewitt, with profound simplicity, explores how our innermost longing is not for mere stasis but an ek-stasis: we have already been carried home, even carried out of ourselves … Home has come to us.”
—John Crowder, author of New Mystics
“Ultimate Rest is an invitation to metanoia, to theosis, to sharing in the divine life. There is grace available in the pages of this book-grace to experience abundant life, community, inner freedom and rest.”
—Jason Clark, Rethinking God with Tacos Podcast
“There is so much here to enrich your spiritual life and liberate your soul in the experiential freedom that is given to us in the gospel. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand what the Christian faith is all about or to go deeper in knowing Divine Rest.”
—Paul Golf, Champions of Hope
About the Author
David Hewitt is the director of a contemporary church called Wellsprings Community, based in Newcraighall, Edinburgh, UK.
Ultimate Rest on the Rethinking God with Tacos Podcast
Ultimate Rest on the Eat Me, Drink Me Podcast
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