When I think rest, I think death (OMG, ducked just in time;LOL). Melancholic! Yeah!
I bet y’all are binding, casting and declaring, “I shall not die but live to declare the glory of God!” Folks, we’ll all die someday. But please don’t flip this page just yet, don’t stop reading; humour me and let’s see where this all leads.
So, let’s dwell somewhat on the mystery of death.
I am thinking – separation from the physical world, a state of paralysis that numbs from all things within this dimension, a total lack of sensation and relational awareness in this realm, aloneness, burial, decay/cremation, and judgment, all that mattered matters no more, the dead in Christ shall arise.
Every seed contains a plant, lifetimes of fruits and abundant seeds; waiting for the right conditions, for this life within its deadness to arise. The principal right condition is the state of alone-deadness of the seed. Death, like birth, is a journey embarked upon by the individual alone. There are no companions in the transitions from life to death and from death to life. You are born by yourself, alone; die by yourself, alone; are accountable by yourself, alone; are wholly responsible for your life yourself, alone.
My child; take full ownership of/for your life, give no one control over your life! Your life is too precious to leave at the moderation of another; determine what your life shall be and work it out with the fear of God.
After all, every part of the plant is already seeded in the seed – the radicle forms the root, cotyledones form cotyledonary leaves, shoot comes out from the plumule, etc. God has placed all of the fullness of you within you, in your fullness is seeded all of the fullness of Him. God in you is the hope of glory.
And, with death comes burial – a physical covering up from the noise and distractions of this world; a total obliteration from extraneous sights, smells, sounds;an intimate time of inward reflection on the possibilities on the inside; collaborating with God alone to spring forth the God ordained purpose; a necessary battle to conquer every barrier and emerge from sleep, changed!
The change experienced by the seed is the growth of the inner part of the seed into roots and a plant and a discarding of the outer shell. It is the growth of every “root-anchor” necessary to birth “fruit-purpose” in the fullness of time,so that there is a guarantee of present/future nourishment and protection continually, for the preservation of the specie. The deeper and more extensive the tap roots, the more adept it is at survival, the more formidable the plant is, the more difficult it is to uproot! Selah!
My child; as long as conditions are not favorable, germination will not begin.
Where per chance, germination happens; eternal death is imminent. The soil, temperature,water, oxygen and light have to be right for a particular seed to transit from a state of dormancy into life. In the mystery of life is hidden the mystery of death thatis hidden in the mystery of life -another chicken-egg paradox.In Him (the Word of God) is life, and the life is the light of men.
I sense dying is uncomfortable, a struggle and giving up comfort zone. Deliberately succumbing to death (NOT SUICIDE!!!)would take the help of God and great personal sacrifice. However, die we must if we are to enter into His glory and rest.
John 12:23–25;“. . . the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory…unless a seed is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce manyseeds —a plentiful harvest of new lives.Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.”
Revelation 14:13b; “Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them”!
God is a divine being of order. There is a time to die, a time to be buried, a time to emerge, a time to spring forth, a time to aim for the sun, a time to produce fruits, and a time to die.Die to destructive self/extraneous pressures and live each moment buried with Christ, your roots seeking life-support from Him alone. Therein is the rest our souls yearn after!
Iyedele Oyedepo-Bolaji