Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image and for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, August 26, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Are there really people who don’t deserve God’s blessed rest? I would say not. I mean, really, we’re all a little wicked when it comes down to it, even if we aren’t worshipping “the beast and its image.” Then again, one could make the case that we all do just that when we get caught up in our need to acquire wealth, prestige, power, and all the other trappings of our modern context. In that case, I think we all deprive ourselves from rest—God doesn’t take it away from us. God doesn’t need to.
We are called to push back against such worship in our own lives, to recognize where we are putting material things or people or relationships in the place of God, where we are trying to be our own god in our own lives so that we don’t need God anymore. Until we do this and relinquish our grip on life, we will never really find the rest God desires for us.
When do I find myself depriving myself of rest by seeking after worldly things?
