Rest

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    Our bodies need rest. It is vital to our bodies' ability to maintain that perfect balance of well-being, physically and emotionally, also known as homeostasis. Kids need rest to grow.  We all look forward to vacations, or days off to allow our bodies and minds a time to rest and reset.  Oh, our bodies and minds can compensate for a short time of running on a low amount of rest -- but we soon crash or cause damage by ignoring signals that we should stop.  Just like those little video game characters, when our energy levels drop, we must recharge before we can continue. We were created with a need for rest.

    God even gave us this example in the very beginning.  Creation week includes the Sabbath day, where God rested.  Was God tired?  Of course not.  He is all powerful and does not have the limitations of a human body.  He was, however, instituting a principle for us to follow.  He knew that we needed that rest.  It is repeated over and over in the law:  the Sabbath day was to be strictly observed.  Even Sabbath years of rest for the land were instituted by God. God created us with that need for a rest of body and mind. Jesus even curled up in the bottom of the boat and took a nap after a long, busy day (Matthew 8).  

    Integral to being able to receive complete rest is having a mind and soul that is calm.  Without that, we are kind of like my kids' tablets: always running on low charge and on the verge of shutting down completely.  How do we find that calm to  allow our minds to receive the rest that they need?  Scripture tells us that we can only know true rest in Jesus.  Rest comes in knowing that all things are in the hands of an All-Knowing, All-Powerful, All-Present God. When we can lay our burdens down, no a matter how big and heavy they feel, we can allow ourselves to receive complete rest.  Jesus brought peace to a storm -- He demonstrated complete rest as He slept in the bottom of the boat as it rocked in the waves and terrified the disciples. Only through Jesus can we know this kind of complete rest that our souls need. 

    You see, Hebrews tells us that Jesus entered into that Sabbath rest pictured by the law after He completed the work of atonement on the cross (Hebrews 10:12). We are invited to share in that rest!  It is available to us -- actually, we are called to follow Jesus into this same kind of rest:

    So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the 

same example of disobedience. 

Hebrew 4:9-11

   "Be diligent to enter into that rest" -- this is something we must consciously do. It is a call to all of us who are "people of God."  We must come to Him and lay down all our concerns and cares, all our busyness, and "enter in" to that rest.  We will avoid falling into disobedience, through entering into that rest.  It is a place of safety.

     As we seek rest for ourselves and our families, may we find the true source of rest: Jesus.  As we seek Him, we will find complete rest for our souls.  Rest in Jesus, my friend.  He offers the answers to your racing mind and worried heart.  He calms every storm and brings peace. Jesus is more than a cliché. He is the answer to every problem, we only need to seek Him and rest in Him! 

Soli Deo Gloria!

💓 Heather Sparks 💓



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