There are days, weeks and seasons when I get going and it feels like I cannot stop. I think, “If I can just finish this one last thing, then I can finally rest.” The problem is there is never just one last thing. There is always another thing, another thing, and another thing. These days, I find myself praying fervently for God’s rest. I want so badly the rest that Jesus promises. I am desperate for it. Sometimes I get moments of it, very brief respites, but it never seems to last. This can’t be the way it is meant to be. God’s rest is not meant to be momentary glimpses of something better. His rest is meant to be a complete and transformed lifestyle. Why is it then that in these days where there is never enough time in the day, He won’t just give me His rest?

I really like ice cream. I know there are ice cream shops somewhere in the city, but I never seem to have the time or energy to drive to them. One day, I slow down on my commute and realize, there’s an ice cream shop right on the corner of your street that I’ve driven past each and every day. Unfortunately, there’s no time today, so I drive past and keep on wishing there were more ice cream shops nearby. All the while, this shop is sitting there. Just waiting for me to enter.

God’s rest is like this. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, God’s rest is available to us, but we have to choose to enter into it. It is not just one ice cream shop on the corner. It is a whole row of ice cream shops. We are surrounded by ice cream shops. In fact, the owner of the ice cream shops has come to us and said He is willing to make our home into our personal ice cream shop so that we can enjoy all the ice cream we want and share that ice cream with others. Yet, all of this does not matter if we cannot take the physical action of slowing down and entering in. 

God’s rest has been waiting for us a long time. If we have not experienced the rest that comes from being in the presence of God, perhaps it is because we have not yet taken the action of slowing down, pausing, and intentionally entering that presence. It might seem contradictory, but rest requires action on our part. This looks like choosing silence and solitude, choosing prayer, choosing community, choosing to live fully as who we are not who we think we ought to be. The more we choose to enter God’s rest in small ways, the more it will become a habit and then a lifestyle. Not just physical action, but a way of being. So who’s ready for some ice cream?

Engage

• Where in your life are you in need of rest today?
• What source of busyness can you say no to?
• Throughout the day, consider how you can remove distractions from God’s rest in your life.

Supporting Scripture

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke up on you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’” -Matthew 11:28-29 (NLT)

Quotable

“In the most restless age of history, Christ can give you rest.” – Billy Graham