Loar's Log

Work and activity have become dominating in our culture. Job security. Sufficient income. A sense of worth. These three seem to be driving many of us to the limits of our mental and emotional capacities. Physical health is also something that drives us to the limits of our mental and emotional capacities. There does not seem to be any “rock” of our life beyond our work, our incomes, and our health.

We come to church expecting to be healed or at least find comfort and soothing from this driveness. Life has sped up so much that we are like a marathon runner expecting to be fully restored to our highest level of strength after simply one hour of nourishment. Or it’s like the electrical grid and the blackout. Our emotional, physical and spiritual systems are shutting down due to overload. And there are no quick church fixes that will give us the energy and vision to be able to face the overloaded demands of our life even though we have developed that expectation.

God has looked down upon a drained humanity for ages. God has spoken to a drained humanity for ages.

“Get some sleep! Don’t cut short your physical rest!”

“Take time for prayer and quiet with me! How are you going to know who I am if you never talk with me and spend time with me?”

“Remember, I made you as a worthy being when I created you. You are not like a piece of stock. Your worth does not increase by any value that you can add to it.”

“Care for yourself! Your body is a holy place (temple). Treat it as a sanctuary. You will never know how to honor my sanctuary (worship setting) if you don’t honor the sanctuary I gave you as your body.”

“Obey the 10 Commandments. Quit forgetting the first four! Don’t talk about how the 10 Commandments are at the foundation of your society, when you don’t honor me and you don’t take a weekly Sabbath. Those two are the first ones I listed. They are as important as the ones about killing and stealing. Have you allowed those first four to be at the foundation of your life?! If not, don’t expect your society to honor the last six which are more oriented to your legal system.”

“Stop allowing all your distress and anxiety to control my community. LISTEN to ME more than your distress and anxiety.”

What do you imagine God is saying to our overworked, overstressed lives?