Rest

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  Matthew 11:28-29

The gracious call of Christ is to salvation and discipleship, but it also a call to rest.  As preachers and pastors, we do well to declare faithfully the message of Christ – the Gospel of Grace and the cost of discipleship.  But, we mustn’t forget that this call is also a call to receive rest.

Our vocation demands constant engagement, sensitivity, and availability.  The truth is that for most of us the concept of rest practically escapes us, so that even in moments of relative quiet we cannot rest.  Our minds spin endlessly, our spirits are restless.  We feign that these are just occupational hazards and part of the sacrifice we must make as we serve God and others.  We find nobility in our restlessness rather than realize it as faithless action that causes us to resist the gracious call of Christ to rest in Him.

Christ calls to us, “Come unto me… and I will give you rest.”

Now, in all honesty, I’m likely the last person that should be writing these words.  Truth is, responding to this gracious call to receive rest has been a constant struggle for me.  As a reaction to growing up in a very unstable environment, my self-medication has always been to work – a lot!  Resting made me feel lazy and worthless.  I wonder how many of us struggle with similar feelings.  I wonder how many of us have come to believe that our value to God is based upon our perceived usefulness to him.  So then, we keep record of that usefulness by filling our clocks and calendars with constant activity.  I am guilty.

Christ calls to us, “Come unto me… and I will give you rest.”

Despite having responded to the gracious call of Christ, I have often set about to make myself worthy of grace by making myself useful.  I have failed miserably and only ended up exhausted and overwhelmed.  At times I also figured that I just wasn’t working hard enough.  I was tired because I was not a good enough steward over my time, and would determine to do better.  Well, you probably know how that ended – I was even more tired, more restless, less peaceful, and less effective!

Christ calls to us, “Come unto me… and I will give you rest.”

More activity was not the solution.  So, I figured I should do less outwardly but place greater emphasis on my personal piety.   I will rise earlier, pray more, carve out more time to ‘be still’, and meditate. It’s funny how I didn’t realize it at the time, but I simply traded one type of activity for another, and I was still not resting. What was I missing?

Christ calls to us, “Come unto me… and I will give you rest.”

Years ago in a conversation with my wife, Adrienne, she made an interesting observation.  Adrienne was raised in a house full of music.  Her dad was a blues and jazz musician, and her mom was a minister of music for as long as she could remember.  In being surrounded by music and eventually receiving the family gift, she offered me this wisdom, “Music played without rests is confusing and disturbing.  The rests give shape to the composition, make it pleasant, and helps it make sense.”

Christ calls to us, “Come unto me… and I will give you rest.”

My life has often become discord and disharmony because I have not observed the rests that have already been written into the arrangement.  I have found myself in the middle of a syncopated mess because I have not yielded to the rests.  I have composed a symphony with such a frenetic tempo that neither I nor those close to me are able to enjoy it.

Christ calls to us, “Come unto me… and I will give you rest.”

With the weight of this calling and with the simple responsibilities of everyday life, moments of chaos will certainly ensue, but I have learned a valuable lesson.  The rests have already been written in – obey them.  There is a rhythm that is defined by the Spirit of God that comes as we answer the gracious call of Christ.

Christ calls to us, “Come unto me… and I will give you rest.”

In all things, whether at work or in play, in the momentous or in the mundane, I am beckoned to ‘Come…’  Whether in crisis or calm, I find refuge in the quiet calling of Christ to ‘Come…’  I am learning to practice His presence, and to yield to this promised rest in all things.  Rest is His gift to me.  Rest is His gift to us.  It is not a reward for becoming useful.  It is only His grace to us.

Restfulness, then, has little to do with my activities (religious or otherwise) and everything to do with my response to His gracious call.  Do you hear Him calling?

Christ calls to us, “Come unto me… and I will give you rest.”

No Comments

Post A Comment

mahjong ways 2