Rest in GodSample

Rest from striving

‘I’m exhausted!’ are usual words from our household. Being in a stage of life, balancing work, children, church, ministry, family, friends, and a whole heap of other commitments can take its toll, and we need to rest. Rest is something I long for, but it never seems to be in reach unless we get away from normal life. But in the Bible, rest seems to be not just something reserved for once or twice a year, but something that we should be doing all the time, a regular habit, a mindset, a resting of the soul.

Sometimes, even when I’m physically resting, I still feel restless. There’s always something else to do. I read a great quote the other day from Mariela Rosario: ‘You’ve confused perfection with holiness and performance with identity. And now your soul is tired from managing an image God never asked you to carry.’ How much of our tiredness do we bring on ourselves? Tired simply from striving to prove ourselves, to keep up with the Joneses, to be something we’re not, to meet those expectations that aren’t ours to meet.

In today’s scripture, Jesus extends an invitation to all who feel weary. It’s not a call to do more or be more, but to simply come to Him. God invites us to something different – to rest in Him. We can rest in the knowledge that God loves us exactly as He made us, and we don’t have to earn the right to come to him, as Jesus has already done that for us. True rest is found not only in physical rest but also in the peace from God that quietens our soul, ceases our striving, and says, ‘Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest’.

Written by JODIE WILLIAMS