We have talked about the depths, the power, and giving the heart to God. Now we shall talk about another quality characterizing a spiritual person, that is, rest.
There are many kinds of rest: rest of the body, of the soul, of the mind, of conscience, of spirit, and rest from troubles. There is also real rest, and false rest, or wrong rest.
Some people may find their rest in a certain hobby, a type of gymnasium, or some art like painting, music, or poetry, or in some amusement like solving quizzes, or in reading. All this is not wrong since the means is proper, yet it is not the real rest.
Some others may find their comfort or rest in enjoying themselves with their friends or acquaintances, in the spirit of family or sociable amusement, or they may work together in a public activity. This also is not wrong, but it is still a humble level of rest, for there is a higher level.
There is false or sinful rest:
King Ahab rested when he arranged the oppressive plot by which he put his hand on the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. He was assisted by his wife Jezebel who wanted to fulfill his wish, even through many sins! But both did not have rest, for God sent Elijah the Prophet to Ahab saying, “In the place where dogs Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood.” (1Kgs 21: 19) And the same happened to his wife (2Kgs 9: 36).
Some people may think they comfort themselves by smoking, drinking wine, or taking drugs!
They may become addicts, adding by this another problem to their problems. They may forget their troubles for some time, but the troubles will last, and added to them will be addiction.
Someone may find rest in fulfilling some desire.
Perhaps such a person desires to avenge himself from somebody who may have insulted or mistreated him, even by uttering some hurting words, or by prevailing over his competitor! Another person may find some comfort in fulfilling his desire to be great, to have possessions, to satisfy a lust of the body, or to practice a sinful habit. In such a case he will have destroyed himself.
What then is the real rest?
Rest is first mentioned in the Scripture in (Gen 2: 3): “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” Here rest is accompanied with blessing and sanctification. This sets for us an important principle: the holy rest is fulfilled by doing good. Here God rested because He saw everything that He had made was very good (Gen 1: 31). Again the Lord rested when He accomplished the Redemption, so He said on the cross, “It is finished” (Jn 19: 30).
He also rested when He finished the work which the Father gave Him to do (Jn 17: 4).
A spiritual person finds rest within when he fulfills whatever good work or ministry entrusted to him, as St. Paul said, “I am already being poured out … and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day.”
That is why we sanctify Sunday and consider it the Lord”s Day, the day of real rest.
In that day the Lord released mankind from the punishment of sin and from death, and by His Resurrection He became the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep (1Cor 15: 20- 23). On the Sabbath God rested as a Creator, and on Sunday He rested as a Redeemer and a Savior.
Rest is not mere rest of the body, but of the spirit as well.
A spiritual person finds his rest on that day, in the house of the Lord, in the Holy Liturgy, with its hymns and blessings, in the holy lections and the sermon, and in partaking of the Holy Sacraments. He finds rest in doing his ministry on that day, and he never feels tired.
St. John says in the Revelation, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord”s Day.”
Undoubtedly when he was in the Spirit he had comfort of heart that made him forget his hardship and his exile on the island called Patmos. However, rest on the Lord”s Day does not mean slackness or laziness without doing any work as the Pharisees understood from the Commandment in (Deut 5: 13, 14). The Lord meant that they stop any worldly activity, not the spiritual work, as the Lord said afterwards: “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (Mt 12″ 12)
Our spirits rest in God, and God rests in our spirits.
The Lord rests in the pure hearts, in His saints, in whom He is also glorified (2Thess 1: 10)
A spiritual person finds his rest in comforting the others.
He feels joy and comfort whenever he comforts them. His heart and his spirit finds rest in any loving action he takes towards the others, when he saves a miserable person, or gives charity to a poor, shows kindness to an orphan, solves a problem for someone in trouble, comforts a sorrowful person, or does a spiritual ministry, whatever effort he may exert for that.
The comfort of the spirit makes a person not feel the weariness of the body.
The fireman, for instance, exposes himself to danger of fire and smoke to save somebody. The same applies to the person who saves someone from drowning, or turns a sinner from the error of his way, saving his soul from death and covering a multitude of sins (Jas 5: 20). He feels pleasure in spite of all labor.
Certainly the greatest inexpressible rest the Lord Christ felt was on the cross, amidst the passions of the cross, for saving mankind from the sentence of death, for satisfying the Divine Justice, and for offering Himself as a burnt offering and a sin sacrifice for the redemption of all the people. It was rest founded on passion which He endured out of His love to man.
Perhaps that was the same rest which the martyrs felt, though incomparable.
Amidst their torments and pains they felt comfort because they were about to meet with the Lord in Paradise, to get rid of the body and substance, and to take off unto the city of the living and the congregation of the saints. The same applies to the confessors and to everybody who suffered pains for the sake of Christ. Therefore after being beaten, the holy apostles departed rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name (Acts 5: 41).
The parents also feel rest from all their labor for raising their children.
Whatever physical labor in caring for them, whatever watching the whole nights, whatever care they offer for the health and education of their children, they feel comfort. The mother feels the same comfort when God gives her a child, in spite of the troubles of conception and delivery.
The real rest is not only that of the body, but of the conscience as well.
The conscience feels at rest when it fulfills its duty and its good purposes to the best, not caring if the body feels tired. The more sublime the purposes are, the more tiresome they will be to the body, but the more comfortable the conscience will be. as the poet says:
The greater the souls are,
The more tiresome their needs will be to the bodies.
On the contrary is the person who gives rest to his body, leaving his conscience uncomfortable.
Such is the person who slackens and does not go to the church and to the ministry, or who does not visit a sick person or comforts a sorrowful person under the pretext that his body is in need for rest. Likewise a student who does not study, giving his body rest and enjoyment, will fall in trouble when he fails, and his conscience will not be at rest because he has neglected his duties. The same goes for any person who neglects his work and does not gain the satisfaction of his seniors.
The longsuffering also give comfort to the spirit.
The effort a person exerts in turning the other cheek or walking the second mile, and in enduring anyone who may sue him and take away his tunic, and he lets him take his cloak also (Mt 5: 39- 41). All such suffering, though troublesome at the beginning, will end with the comfort of the conscience.
A person who watches the whole night in prayer and in praising God for His righteous judgments will find rest of the spirit in spite of the weariness of the body.
Such a person also will find rest in struggling and fighting against the spiritual hosts of wickedness (Eph 6), and in enduring to the end to be saved (Mt 24: 13).
However, God did not prevent us from the rest of the body.
He gave us the Sabbath (Sunday) to have bodily and spiritual rest, for He knows as our Creator that our bodies do need rest. Therefore He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” (Mk 2: 17) It is your right then to give rest to your body, to give it enough sleep, to follow the health rules, and to give it its needs of the food.
But let not your body rest at the expense of the rest of your spirit.
You nourish and cherish your body, but at the same time, you discipline it and bring it into subjection (Eph 5: 29; 1Cor 9: 27). You should not let it disobey your spirit. You give it food, but you do not give it its desires. You give it sleep for rest, but you awaken it for prayer so that the spirit also may find rest.
A spiritual person keeps balance between the rest of the body and of the spirit.
Some people press on their bodies beyond their power, which makes the nerves also in trouble. This may cause them to err, and the spirit will not be at ease. The whole matter needs discretion and discerning.
When you give your body rest, avoid psychic faults which may cause it trouble.
Anger and nervousness, confusion and anxiety, concern and distress, all are psychic diseases. The Lord says, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.” (Mt 6: 34) So, a spiritual person will have peace of heart by faith and submission to the Lord, and his body will likewise be at rest and free from various diseases.
A person who suffers inner conflict, will have his body also weary.
The inner conflict accompanied with pressing thoughts and conflicting views will cause much injury to the body. Much sorrow will cause harm to the body as well. But a spiritual person has the spirit, the thoughts, and the feelings in one line, and has the spirit and the soul and the body at peace.
A spiritual person cares about the comfort of the spirit as well as of the soul and the body.
The spirit is comforted by being released from the sins, the bad habits, and the bad temper, from the lusts and the temptations, and from the resisting of the body that lusts against it (Gal 5: 16, 17). The spirit is comforted by prevailing in the wars of the devils, resisting them steadfast in faith (1Pet 5: 9). The spirit is comforted by the spiritual nourishment that strengthens it and attaches it to God who will work with His love in it.
The spirit is comforted when the person does nothing that troubles the conscience, and when the person obeys God, and God is pleased with such obedience.
God finds His rest in the believing hearts who love Him and does His will, like the angels who do His word and heed the voice of His word (Ps 103: 20).
A spiritual person finds rest in the communion of the Holy Spirit (2Cor 13: 14). He does nothing unless the Spirit of God takes part with him, and says, “Let Your will be done”. How beautiful are the words about Moses the Prophet that he made all things according to the pattern shown him on the mountain (Heb 8: 5).
The last point is: how can man have rest?
If a person is at peace within, he will be at peace externally, and the opposite is true. The look to things may cause a person trouble, therefore St. Paul says, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Rom 12: 2)
A person ought to be convinced of doing good, so all his actions will be good.
The heart ought to be wholly comfortable at the spiritual conduct, without any sinful desire against the will. St. John Chrysostom says: ”No one can do harm to a person unless the person does harm to himself.” A person who is comfortable within will find nothing troublesome from outside, nor will he cause trouble to any person. On the contrary is the unspiritual person who always causes troubles and is always uncomfortable. Such a person is annoyed for the least thing.
Actually the problem is within, not from external reasons.
The spiritual persons are often surrounded with troubles, but they never get weary.
This is not all about this topic, for there is more to say in the coming article, God willing.