¹⁰ For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. ¹¹ Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

Possibility thinking—that’s what this is. In the truest sense the rest of God is not just a carrot dangling out front designed to keep you moving toward the goal, but with no real hope of reaching it. The rest of God is not something that is just imagined, as though by believing it hard enough we can actually think it is true (when in fact it is not). That is not what faith is all about. It is not a redefinition with which we cloak reality, so that, contrary to what really is, we live out a mental fantasy with no bearing on the actual events around us.

No, the rest of God is real, it is tangible. It is not a redefinition, but a reframing, having a new grid for interpreting life around us. Yes, the rest of God gives us inner peace and contentment despite the swirling circumstances and persecutions around us. When we sin and fail in our spiritual walk, the relationship we have with God remains intact. When He is silent in the midst of our pain and anguish, we do not need to run after the latest “snake oil” salesmen of Christendom to find “the key” to spiritual success with God.

To rest in God means to cease all efforts to work our way to salvation. It means a termination of silly religiosity performed with the goal of gaining brownie points with God. Resting in Him means knowing He is still there even when He seems to be silent. It means being confident that He is good, even when it seems He is doing bad things to us or allowing them to happen. God is always for us, never against us. Unlike people who lean away from us when trying to exit a conversation, God always leans in toward us. He is not a resistant recluse waiting for us to devise the right pathway to acceptance in His inner circle. His door is open, He is continually inviting us. We are His children, and that will never change. Resting in God means no longer fearing His rejection; nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from His love.

On the sixth day God rested from His efforts of creating. For us to enter God’s rest means that we to rest from our efforts to gain God’s approval or satisfaction that our sin has been adequately dealt with. And when we enter that rest, we do so, not for one day, but for all eternity. We should, therefore, work “diligently” to enter fully by faith into God’s rest, and not revert back to human efforts to gain His approval, which only proves a lack of faith.