“On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida.” – Luke 9:10

After a busy season of life and ministry, Jesus led His disciples away from the crowds and the busyness to rest, recover, and simply be near to Him. That particular retreat didn’t exactly work out for the disciples (they wound up feeding 5000 instead), but the pattern was set and faithful followers of Christ have long recognized the need to periodically step away from the hustle and bustle of life, retreat to a quiet location, and simply be near Him.

For many of us today, we have received exactly this invitation. Billions of people around the world are now required to slow down, ease off the busyness, clear our calendars, withdraw from public life for a season, and be at home. Rather than lament this, let’s consider it an invitation to withdraw from our usual craziness of life, to be still for while, and to draw near to Christ. Rather than fight, fuss, and fret, let us read (the Bible), pray, and worship in our homes. Find refreshment for your soul and rest for your body. Draw near to the Lord and be filled with His Spirit daily.

Let us come out of this time of forced retreat a changed people, with corrected priorities, clarity about what matters, richer spiritual lives, and a love and passion for the God who met us at home these many weeks!

“I waited patiently for the Lord,
and he turned to me and heard my cry for help.”
– Psalm 40:1

We’re certainly getting ample opportunity to develop patience! Allow God to do a work in you during this time of “stay-at-home”. Seek Him faithfully, daily, and increasingly through Bible study, prayer, meditation, and private worship. Call on Him with your needs, concerns, fears, and anxieties. Wait patiently in the confidence that God hears the prayers of His people, but answers in His perfect timing. Trust in the Lord and be patient with His timing.

Understand that patience isn’t something we force on ourselves through self-discipline. Rather, patience comes as part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in us through those very same means of grace – Bible study, prayer, meditation, and private worship. We experience the fruit of the Spirit as we walk in line with the Spirit. This is an incredible time to really learn to walk in step with the Spirit, because most of us suddenly have fewer distractions and plenty of time to seek God! Redeem this time for the glory of God!

“O Lord, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!”
– Psalm 39:4

There is great value in being reminded that our days are limited on this earth! We may not like to contemplate our own death, but its inevitability forces us to reflect on our priorities and how we live our lives. Our typical modern American life is so comfortable that we easily assume it will continue, as is, pretty much forever. But it won’t. This false assumption leads us to live our lives for ourselves, for the moment, and for the trivial. It allows the urgent to dominate the important, because we imagine we’ll get to the important “tomorrow”.

“Tomorrow” is never guaranteed. Our lives are but a brief blink of an eye in the span of eternity. Reminders of mortality remind us that we need to refocus on what truly matters and use this time well. While our earthly lives are brief (at most 70-100 years), we will live forever. That forever (billions and trillion of years worth) will either be spent in God’s presence, enjoy the rewards of a life of faithful service to Him, or separated forever from God in a Christ-less eternity called hell, where we will experience the suffering due a wasted life of rebellion and selfishness.

The difference in our destination is determined not by our own good works, because they’ll never be good enough to climb back into the presence of a perfect God. The difference will be determined entirely by our faith in Jesus Christ, who sacrificed His perfect life to carry us into God’s presence. Once you embrace Christ, you change your forever destination. However, this must increase the urgency of living this brief life well, growing continuously in your relationship with God, and serving and glorifying Him every day. Reminders of death, such as we see all around us now, bless us by focusing our attention on the work God has prepared for us to do rather than our personal bucket list of fun things we want to check off before passing into God’s presence.

“For my iniquities have gone over my head;
like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.”
– Psalm 38:4

Indeed! If we truly understood the enormity of all that we’ve done wrong in our lives – the hurtful actions, hateful words, vile thoughts, selfishness, cruelty, callousness, self-centeredness, obliviousness, cowardice – we would agree with the psalmist that it is too heavy for us to bear. Our mountain of sinful thoughts, words, actions, silence, and inaction is piled up far above our head. It is far, far too much for us to carry through life ourselves, not to mention the consequences in death.

Fortunately, we don’t have to carry this burden! In His mercy, love, and grace, God sent His eternal Son Jesus to bear these things for us! Jesus Christ never did any of these sinful things, but despite His eternal, sinless, perfection He chose to sacrifice Himself on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” At the cross, Christ bore all the weight of our sin, so we wouldn’t have to. By His death and glorious resurrection, Jesus erases our debt of sin when we put our faith in Him.

Because of Christ’s sacrifice and God’s grace, we know, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). You don’t need to carry around the weight of the sinful past or shameful present – turn to Christ in faith and ask God’s forgiveness in sorrow and you will always be forgiven and free.

“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” – Luke 6:41

We are naturally quick to blame others for our interpersonal disputes, conflicts, relational breakdowns, and grudges. In our mind we clearly see everything that’s wrong with them. We repeatedly rehearse their past words and actions which serves to deepen our anger, hurt, and bitterness. Our thoughts spiral ever more negatively and we feel ever more self-righteous and justified in harboring hatred.

This is NOT how Jesus commands His people to think about their relational problems! It’s certainly possible that some broken relationships are entirely the other person’s fault (as may be true in cases of criminal behavior, abuse, and addiction). However, in the vast majority of cases, if we were truly honest with ourselves, we would see that we too bear a certain responsibility for the mess. Whether it’s 1%, 10%, 50%, or 90% percent our fault, in most cases, our words, actions, inactions, or lack of words have contributed to making that broken relationship what it is.

Relational healing begins by recognizing our own sinful actions and responses, asking God’s forgiveness, and then asking the other person’s forgiveness. That opens the door for resolution – either by freeing them to confess their own contributions or by preparing you before God to honestly point out their sinful conduct.

The key point is that as Christians, we’re always called to make the first move. We’re called to get honest with ourselves, be honest with God, then be honest with the other person. It’s incredibly hard. It hurts our pride terribly. It embarrasses us. It makes us vulnerable. But we can do it, because when it came to our rebellion against God, our conflict with Him, He made the first move even though none of it was His fault. To bring reconciliation with Him, God sacrificed His Son on the cross. His eternal Son became vulnerable, was abused and humiliated, was tortured and killed, and rose from the dead. Because He did, we can swallow our pride and sense of injustice and begin to make peace where there is currently only conflict.

For most of us, the world has slowed down radically and unexpectedly. Why not use this time when we’re forced to reassess our priorities and examine our lives to evaluate our broken relationships and begin a journey of peacemaking and reconciliation through Jesus Christ?