Can’t Seem To Get Complete Rest?
To be really honest, most times I feel tired. I’m exhausted from my boots to my collar tips and everything in between. And have been for a long time. Does rest for the weary exist this side of heaven?
Jesus said, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Yet, since I became a Christian, I’ve been busier than ever. Lord, what happened to the rest? Seems like life’s pace picked up. What kind of rest does Jesus give?
Rest From Anxiety
Jesus gives us rest from external worries. Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rest for the weary happens when we make peace with God. No more anxiety about our ultimate future destiny. Many people worry about the after-life, whether they’ll admit it or not. Fear hits at critical times, such as flying in a bumpy airplane. Or waking suddenly in the dark of night. Maybe it’s a foxhole during a battle. Or confined to a hospital bed.
Jesus comes along and says, “I can give peace and rest for the weary.”
Supplying Spiritual Needs
Jesus gives rest from trying to satisfy our own spiritual needs. It’s an impossible task anyway. Many run all over the place, working hard. They wear themselves out in seeking. Thousands of people spend millions of dollars for some little guy from India to tell them, “Only stupid people believe in God and the Bible.” Oh, yeah? The wise run to Him and are saved.
“Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).
Rest From The Rat Race
The Bible advises us to keep our lives free from the love of money and be content with what we have (Hebrews 13:5). Paul learned the secret how to live an abundant life in both poverty and riches (see Philippians 4). Material possessions, fame and fortune, and cushy comfort doesn’t matter. Jesus provides a different kind of satisfaction.
Freedom From Inordinate Pride
Jesus offers rest from our pride. God hides certain knowledge from the so-called intelligentsia and reveals His treasures to babes in Christ. The Bible says, not many of us are noble or wise. But He reveals Himself to simple folks. It’s one of the great benefits of being part of God’s Kingdom.
We don’t have to maintain our pride. If someone ever says, “You know, you aren’t that smart.” You can agree. The Bible tells us that plainly. Pride is a tough master. Pride must win. It makes us slaves. We must be the best. To be full of pride is to be ruled by a demanding boss (John 8:34-36). The sin of pride ages us. It wears us out. Jesus gives rest to the weary who long to free from that.
What Can Man Do To Us?
We certainly live in a world full of fear. Pick up any newspaper or turn on the news. Find an onslaught of all sorts of crime and injustice everywhere. But we can also experience the rest of Jesus.
“The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6,7)
That doesn’t mean bad things never happen to us. But we’re given His deep peace.
All The Daily Stuff
We can have rest from the continual, gnawing distress of daily details. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (!Peter 5:7).
That doesn’t mean we kick back and expect the Lord do everything on our To Do List. But we don’t have to give them undue worry. We trust Him to help us with the big concerns and the little stuff too as we face them one at a time. As we get up and get active, He gives us all we need.
Rest In Trials & Troubles
Jesus gives us rest and ease in the midst of tribulation. All around us and sometimes up close and personal, we see upsets and terror, quakes
and tsunamis. We take heart because He Himself overcame the world and its woes (John 16:33). No matter what’s happening, we don’t need to despair. We can claim His goodness in our relationship with Him.
We Won’t Fear Death
By Jesus’ death, He freed those who all their lives were held captive by fear of death. Macho guys can cover that one dread up real good. But it doesn’t wash. When life or death faces us, we tremble like everyone else. Jesus comes along and says, “I can deliver you from that.”
Loss Of Relationship With God
Rest for the weary comes from assurances like this. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). Total security before God comes for those who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. That’s the deepest kind of rest. Jesus offers this to everyone. “Come to Me,” he calls (Matthew 11:28).
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20).
He doesn’t loiter at an out-of-the-way corner, on the chance we might walk by. He reaches out where we work and play. “Come, come, come,” He beckons. He cries out to the tired of this world. But He leaves the decision to each one of us, whether or not to receive His rest. We must make a move toward Him.
Following Jesus
When we reach out to Him, we agree to follow His way, become His student. We pay attention to His instructions. Jesus asks us to go all in. We take His yoke upon us. A yoke is an instrument of service and work. Farmers don’t put yokes on oxen so they can dance around in the pasture.
But what about rest? Work usually makes us weary.
The rest of Jesus doesn’t mean to do nothing. But His yoke lays on our shoulders easy and light. His yoke wears well. The work God wants you to do, whatever it is, exactly fits you. The load is within your ability to complete. And will provide great satisfaction in this life and rewards for the life to come.
Stephen Bly
Circa 1985, Fillmore, California
Sleepy Guys Image by 5477687 from Pixabay
Waterfall Image by iqbal nuril anwar from Pixabay
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