Wrap Up and Chill Out!
It’s not unusual for people who have had a stressful day to come home and want to turn the world off for a while. For women, that might mean filling up the tub with a good hot bubble bath; but, for men, it usually means grabbing the remote and escaping in front of the TV. In the late 70s a popular slang was fabricated that describes our need to escape from the world’s clutches for a while. It’s called chilling out!
We don’t normally think of chilling out as a religious exercise, but it’s really not far from biblical teaching, especially if done in the right way. Paul wrote to the Philippian believers, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” (Philippians 4:6, NLT) And, it was Jesus who admonished the people, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28, NIV) You can almost hear Him as He tells the enslaved, the abused, the weary, and the confused, “Come to Me and ‘chill out’!”
Yet, God does not say that it is OK for us to take a vacation from our heavenly calling and just enter a state of oblivion. Resting in Jesus is not kicking back into neutral and doing nothing! The Bible may commission us to chill out, but it also commands us to put on; to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 13:14)
In the final verses of the Apostle Peter’s first letter to scattered and persecuted believers, he literally wraps things up by telling them that they needed to be wrapped up in the very character of Christ. This is such an important requirement that Peter even says that God literally arms Himself against those who don’t do it. The Christ-like quality he is talking about is true humility, and it not only commends the favor of God but it also leads to a victorious life which enables the true follower of Christ to really chill out!
We don’t normally think of chilling out as a religious exercise, but it’s really not far from biblical teaching, especially if done in the right way. Paul wrote to the Philippian believers, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” (Philippians 4:6, NLT) And, it was Jesus who admonished the people, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28, NIV) You can almost hear Him as He tells the enslaved, the abused, the weary, and the confused, “Come to Me and ‘chill out’!”
Yet, God does not say that it is OK for us to take a vacation from our heavenly calling and just enter a state of oblivion. Resting in Jesus is not kicking back into neutral and doing nothing! The Bible may commission us to chill out, but it also commands us to put on; to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 13:14)
In the final verses of the Apostle Peter’s first letter to scattered and persecuted believers, he literally wraps things up by telling them that they needed to be wrapped up in the very character of Christ. This is such an important requirement that Peter even says that God literally arms Himself against those who don’t do it. The Christ-like quality he is talking about is true humility, and it not only commends the favor of God but it also leads to a victorious life which enables the true follower of Christ to really chill out!
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