Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Hebrews 4:1
The word for fear here is phobeo, and I’m sure you see the relationship to the word phobia. Not surprisingly, it means to put in fear, to terrify, to frighten, and to cause to run away. From what? In this case from the mere idea of not entering into the rest God has for us. His rest is such a marvelous place to be compared to the striving, worrying, stressing, and struggling that we often experience.
The word for rest is katapausis, which means the act of resting, ceasing from labor, the place of rest, dwelling or fixed abode.
I have to fight to discern between passivity and resting. Not that I have a tendency to be passive; my natural tendency is to think of every possible thing that I can DO. So when I try to rest, I want to rest in Jesus and not simply be passive. This involves a GOING and not a DOING. I go and enter into His rest in the particular situation, trusting that He has a plan and a provision.
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