Sit. Walk. Stand. Start from Rest to Finish Best.

As I went about my routine this morning, I was reminded of the parallel my physical life has with my spiritual life.

I woke up, brewed some coffee, sat on my porch, spent time in God‘s Word, and went for a walk.

As a believer in Christ, I am also called to wake up and be alert, and that happens best when I drink in the Word.

The daily walk is important, yes, but not before we understand true rest...

You see, I’m reading (another) little book this summer (you may recall me reading and posting daily about “A Gospel Primer for Christians” by Milton Vincent throughout the month of June). This little gem of a resource is “Sit. Walk. Stand. The Process of Christian Maturity“ by Watchman Nee. It’s a study guide of sorts through the book of Ephesians (one of my favorite books of the Bible). Like the Gospel Primer, this book is rather tiny, but let me tell you, it sure is mighty!

If you know me at all, you know I love words! Watchman Nee hones in on three important verbs for the Christian life — Sit. Walk. Stand.

If you’ve read my Bible study, CALLED, you’ll recall the middle six chapters are verbs I refer to as “stepping stones“ into all the places God is calling us to go. God‘s Word is a powerful weapon for the Christian warrior, and practical application is key if we are to honor God by doing what it says.

So, this morning, as I focused more on sitting, it reminded me of chapter 4 of CALLED. Called to Be. Being breeds a better doing. We must BE first so we can DO best, or as Watchman Nee puts it, We must SIT before we WALK or STAND.

Over the course of just a couple pages in this little book, “Sit, Walk, Stand,” I was reminded that the Christian walk begins from a place of rest. It always has. It always will — from creation to salvation — a way was made for us to STAY. His love holds us and keeps us, and as we become rooted and established, it then compels us and propels us to walk forward in faith and stand firm on that faith.

“The Christian life from start to finish is based upon this principle of utter dependence upon the Lord Jesus. There is no limit to the grace God is willing to bestow upon us. He will give us everything, but we can receive none of it except as we rest in Him. “Sitting” is an attitude of rest. Something has been finished, work stops and we sit. It is paradoxical, but true, that we only advance in the Christian life as we learn first of all to sit down.”

When we sit, we rest our weight entirely on something else. Something outside of ourselves.  When we walk or stand, we expend energy and bare the weight ourselves as the strain falls upon our muscles and nerves.

Nee says it this way, “So also in the spiritual realm, to sit down is simply to rest our whole weight — our load, ourselves, our future, everything— upon the Lord. We let him bear the responsibility and cease to carry it ourselves.”

This was God’s design from the beginning. In the creation, God worked the first six days and rested on the seventh. He was busy doing what only He could do. Then, when He was done, when the task was completed, he ceased to work. The seventh day became the Sabbath of God; it was God‘s rest.

Let’s ponder Adam for a moment. Where was he in relation to creation and that Sabbath rest of God? He was created on the sixth day. He had no part in those first six days of work. God’s seventh day was Adam’s first. God enjoyed his Sabbath rest, but Adam began his life with Sabbath rest.

God works before He rests, while we must first enter into God’s rest (sit), and then and only then can we can work (expend energy by walking out our faith and standing firmly on it).

From creation to salvation, this was God’s design. The gospel went another step further and has completed also the work of redemption. We do not work to earn it, we can do nothing to merit it, we simply enter into that finished work by faith, by assuming our position in Christ as we believe in the work of the cross.

“Of course, we know that between these two historic facts — between God’s rest and creation and God’s rest in redemption – there lies the whole tragic story of Adam’s sin and judgment, of man’s unceasing, unprofitable labor and of the coming of the Son of God to toil and to give Himself until the lost position was recovered. ‘My father worketh even enter now, and I work.’ (John 5:17), He explained as he pursued His Way. Only with the atoning price paid could he cry, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30).”

And that, dear friend, is the epitome of God’s Amazing Grace. He accomplished everything in and through Christ, and then invites us to rest in Him first so we can work as unto Him best.

Understanding the importance of the order of these three verbs — Sit. Walk. Stand.

SIT — But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. ~ Ephesians 2:4-10

WALK — I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ~ Ephesians 4:1-3

STAND — Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ~ Ephesians 6:10-12