How to Find Rest
The time of year I am writing this is so busy for many people. It’s the end of a school year for kids, and there are end-of-the-year tests, parties, graduations, contests, tournaments, and so much more to squeeze in before summer break. Parents and grandparents are constantly running from one thing to the next.
The weather is warming up and so are the extracurricular activities. Baseball, softball, soccer, tennis, and all kinds of other sports are in high gear.
On top of all that, there’s work to be done. The bills don’t pay themselves. There are things around the house that never stop: laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning, yard work, and more.
Oh and then there’s the fighting, bickering, arguing that goes on in our relationships. That constantly weighs on us and we feel the conflict, the give and take, and hate that we can’t seem to be happy.
Add to that the worry and anxiety hanging over our heads about our finances, inflation, and unrest around the world.
Many of us are looking to get away. We need a vacation. We long to get some much-needed rest. Maybe we can hit the reset button and start over on better footing.
But here’s what is going to happen to many of us. We will eventually escape. We’ll load the car and the kids up and we’ll head out for our vacation only to come back and say, “I need a vacation from my vacation.”
We are going to get back and still be tired! The relational conflict will still be there. We’ll feel the anxiety and worry about all the things.
Is it possible to find rest? Jesus said it was, but it’s not where we often look.
GETTING OUR NEEDS MET
True rest is ultimately about getting our needs met. We all have needs of love, contentment, security, and worth. Trying to find ways to get these needs met is where a lot of our busyness, anxiety, worry, and tiredness come from.
We work so hard at our jobs to try and get to a point where we can find financial security.
We climb the corporate ladder to establish our self-worth, only to never feel like we’re quite enough.
We find a spouse and have a family so that we’ll feel loved and accepted, but often we feel unloved, unappreciated, and unsuccessful in our attempts to bring us all together.
We try to control and manipulate our situations and circumstances to find contentment and peace, only to continuously feel like what we are chasing is just out of our grasp.
It becomes a constant cycle of working hard and then trying to escape to get our needs met in hopes that one day we’ll finally get to rest.
HOW TO FIND REST
Jesus teaches us how to find true rest.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
(Matthew 11:28)
In this verse, Jesus says to come to Him and that He will give us rest. The rest is found in Him.
Jesus is our rest.
True rest is not found in better situations and circumstances. True rest is found in a Person.
Why is rest found in Jesus? Because Jesus meets all of our needs.
When Jesus took His final breath on the cross, He proclaimed, “It is finished!” All of the work necessary to secure our salvation and meet our needs had been completed.
Through Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Holy Spirit, when we receive His salvation by grace through faith, we enter into a spiritual union with Him.
In that union with Him, our needs of love, security, contentment, and worth are met.
We no longer have to search for them. We don’t have to manipulate or control other people or our situations and circumstances to get those needs met. We can rest.
We don’t have to go on a vacation to find rest. Jesus is our rest.
Everything around us can spiral out of control, but in Christ, we have rest. He is our rest.
CONCLUSION
Going on vacations, slowing down, taking time for a nap, and getting alone for some quiet time are all good things. They are even things Jesus may lead you to do, but don’t fall for the myth that rest is found in those things.
True rest can only be found in Jesus. He said, “Come to ME, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Set your hearts and minds on Jesus as your rest. Trust that all your needs are met in Him. He is your Source for love, security, contentment, and worth.
He is life. He is peace. He is rest, and if you are in Christ, you are at rest. Keep your eyes fixed on Him and all you have in Him today.
“Do I have life ‘more abundant’?” That’s a question millions of Christians have asked down through the ages. Dan Stone asked that question during a time of spiritual frustration in his own life and God answered by showing Dan he had been living only a part of the gospel message. Dan’s search led him to discover the truth of “Christ in you” as “the rest of the gospel” that most Christians overlook.
Readers who are hungry for a deeper experience with God will resonate with Dan’s discovery of “the rest of the gospel,” which is indeed rest for everyone who is willing to finally let go and let God.
