Rest

Aug 09 | Pastor J.D. | 2 Comments |

Some of the best insights into a passage usually come for me after I’ve finished preaching the message 3-4 times over the weekend… the word has saturated my mind, and I start to see clearly where it applies to me. It’s not that they are new insights, just that I see more clearly how the Word confronts my life and how I’m not living up to it. It’s the (much-ignored) value of Scripture meditation.

Such has been the case of the message I preached on “Remembering the Sabbath” 2 weeks ago. The whole concept of “rest” in the Bible is rich and very Gospel-centric.

Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath law, which means that He is our Sabbath rest. Just as God promised the Israelites that if they would let the land rest He would bring abundant fruit in their fields, so if we learn to rest in Jesus, God will bring abundant fruit in our lives. The key to fruitfulness in both the Old Testament and the New is not in our activity, but in our resting.

Whether we are religious or not, each of us has a “rest.” Your “rest” is the place you to which you retreat, the place to which you run in difficulty to find happiness or security. When you are under stress, it’s where you find escape. When you are depressed, it’s how you pick yourself up. It’s that thing your mind wanders to, to delight in, when it idles or you are dreaming about the future.

It might be a possession you own. It might be something you hope to be someday. It could be a temporary escape from pressure, like retreating into the sensual pleasures of pornography, wine, or drugs. You may escape through your boyfriend. It might be a good book or your children. What your soul rests in will vary, even depending on your season of life, but each of you has one.

If that rest is anything but God, it will bring bad fruit from your life. For example, you’ll get obsessive and addictive. You’ll be in a bad mood. You’ll lash out at others. You’ll be a stingy materialist.

But if your rest is God, God will bring good fruit from your rest. You’ll be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, self control, and faithfulness. These things are the fruit of the Spirit. In other words, they are the crop that comes from resting in God. Resting in anything else but God produces the opposite of these fruits–worry instead of joy, selfishness instead of love; harshness instead of gentleness; addictions rather than self-control.

So where does your soul find rest? Do you escape by overwork? Do you have some secret fantasy life that you find delight in to escape the toil of life? Is it a “good” thing like family, friends, or books? There is no true rest for our souls except in Jesus–His love, His approval, His promises.

I’ve been in a particularly stressful time of life recently, and God has used this to show me that my “rest” is in many things besides God. But He has purified me in this time, showing me that He is the only reliable refuge and strength and that resting in Him produces the wonderful fruits of the Spirit in my life.

2 Responses to “Rest”

1. Micah Foster says:

   August 9, 2010 at 10:28 pm

   This entry was very convicting for me personally. More often then not when I’m stressed out or need a minute I jump on ESPN or other time wasters to get my mind off the current situation. My escapes tend to be things I enjoy or that make me laugh, but the sad thing is that often times my mind doesn’t gravitate towards scripture or God. I am more focused on just escaping to a distraction then seeking out true solace. Of all the places our minds should gravitate towards is ironically sometimes the last place it comes to rest. Thanks for reminding us that God truly is our rest and we should rest in his word and presence in times of stress and strain.
2. Melissa Monroe says:

   August 10, 2010 at 2:44 am

   This just really encouraged me today!

   Psalm 31:7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.
   “For thou hast considered my trouble. Thou hast seen it, weighed it, directed it, fixed a bound to it, and in all ways made it a matter of tender consideration. A man’s consideration means the full exercise of his mind; what must God’s consideration be?” Charles Spurgeon