He Will Give You Rest
July 1, 2023 2023-07-01 8:02He Will Give You Rest
Revlee Come to Jesus. He will give you rest.
There is no doubt this is one of my favorite things Christ ever says in Scripture. In a world so fatigued with busyness, stress, anxiety, difficult issues on every turn, one thing we need is rest. We need rest not only for our physical bodies but our souls. We are suffering, perhaps more than any other time, emotional and mental fatigue. Fatigue brings our defenses down and we more easily partake in sinful escapes from the weight of it all. But these words of Christ are beautiful.
“Come to me…and I will give you rest.”
We first hear of rest on the seventh day of the creation narrative. On the seventh day, because the Lord had finished His work, He rested and called it holy. Rest and holiness work together.
Many Christians go to Christ in prayer and in tears when they are overwhelmed. I know the Holy Spirit ministers to them, but their situation doesn’t change and the weight returns as soon as their prayer is over. Jesus says we are to come to Him for this rest, but how do we do this? The answer is found in the seventh day where rest and holiness were joined together.
When we live our lives in holiness, we are doing the work of the Lord just as He did in the six days of creation. The result of six days of work revealing the glory of God was rest. When we live a holy life, the Lord does a work in our heart giving us spiritual, mental, and emotional rest. The problems may not go away, but we have been changed.
Our faith is stronger. We are more certain that God will work it out and we even have a sense of how He will work it out though we never quite know since His ways are higher than ours. But He gives us the mind of Christ who understood the character of the Father so well that He never doubted.
To live in holiness is to discover the goodness of God that comes as a reward for those who earnestly seek Him. In holiness, we see God’s response. We see God at work. We learn His ways. Our confidence in Him soars. He gives us rest.
Prayer: Lord, help me to live according to Your teachings that I might see Your goodness, find greater faith and confidence, and receive rest for my mind, body, and soul. Amen.
