Look past ourselves for soul rest

Need some rest?

Most people would answer that question in the affirmative, even during this season of soaking up sunshine.

Let’s face it: An awful lot of us return from summer vacations just as spent as we were before we left. We take the template of our hurried lifestyles into our days of so-called leisure and end up needing to go back to work just to get some rest.

Sound familiar?

Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29 – NKJV).

What a welcome offer. Rest that seeps deep into our souls, bringing balance and order to a life that so often seems to just happen willy-nilly. Jesus offers to give us such rest and invites us to take it.

Let us consider the gift and the giver.

Soul rest is something we cannot achieve on our own. It has nothing to do with what is happening around us or what we have accomplished or failed to accomplish. It is produced only by the creator and custodian of our souls, God himself.

We enjoy spiritual rest first of all by believing the gospel and appropriating its truth in our lives. Hebrews 4:3 says, “For we who have believed do enter that rest…”

When we place our faith in Christ alone for forgiveness of sin, the blessings of spiritual rest become ours. No longer must we labor in a vain attempt to be pleasing to God; Christ has accomplished this on our behalf. We must rest in him.

Why then, do so many Christians seem to be just as spiritually burdened and weary as the rest of the world? The experiences of Christ’s first disciples reveal the answer.

One day, Jesus settled into a boat on the Sea of Galilee, and the disciples followed him. The savior slept on the journey, even though “a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves” (Matthew 8:24).

The disciples frantically woke Jesus and begged him to save them from drowning. And he did, but not before a little scolding: ” ‘Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm” (Matthew 8:26).

Notice the correlation between fear – anxiety, lack of peace … call it what you want – and little faith.

It is by faith that we receive and enjoy this promised rest in our spirits, even when the storms of life are still raging. Will we believe in him, trust in him, and by faith follow him, even when everything around us seems to be shaken and uncertain?

Jesus – God himself – is just as much in control of the storms you and I must endure as he was that day on the Sea of Galilee. He has a servant’s heart, and he promises to bear our burdens for us.

What a relief, and a joy, it is to take him at his offer.

Most of us carry burdens too heavy for us; we fret over matters that are utterly out of our control. We forget that Jesus offers to carry the load and calls us to rest in him.

In ancient times, farmers often trained a young plow animal by yoking it to an experienced animal that would bear most of the burden.

When our burdens seem too heavy, too hard for us, it is surely because we are trying to carry too much of load ourselves. We haven’t yielded enough of the load to the only one capable of carrying it: Jesus.

When we rely on ourselves, our own effort, we falter. But when our life struggles are entrusted to Christ, and we live his way, we enjoy his promised rest.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t promise to take all burdens away. In fact, he says: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. …”

That involves a decision to be a disciple, a follower of Christ, in practical daily living. Jesus desires to completely transform our cares and priorities through the blessing of an intimate relationship with him.

The Apostle Peter puts it this way: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7).

Do you need rest this summer? This wonderful, inexhaustible rest of the soul is even closer than your next vacation.