Rest Assured

Hebrews 4:1-16

Rest. Was this concept as compelling to the original Hebrew audience as it is for us today? Last night I was sitting on the couch, helping my daughter read a book, and I seriously dosed off while she was trying to figure out a word! (I recovered quickly, and we did finish the book, but I'm clearly not the greatest reading tutor dad out there.)

We're desperate for rest. We're busy and overbooked. We're tired and sometimes cranky. (I am anyway; I won't speak for the rest of you.) We're emotionally spent from too much time on the phone, too much time trying to solve problems over email while missing the nuances of human communication and interaction, too much time doing everything we can possibly fit into a day.

The rest God promises, when we really understand the gift He offers us, can affect some of those things, but His rest is designed to address a more serious issue. We're tired from trying to make our mark. Whether we're trying to prove our significance to the people around us or trying to prove to God that we know we should be able to demonstrate victory over sin in our lives or trying to prove whatever, we need the rest only God can offer us.

The invitation is open, but many have rejected the rest of God. They're still working hard. Are you one of them? I read in two different books recently that effort is not the opposite of grace, but works is. There are plenty of Godly things to invest our effort in, in response to God's work of grace and mercy in our lives. But our works, our labor, our toil are burdensome and ultimately meaningless.

Hebrews 4 tells us that the Word of God is living and active and sharper than a double-edged sword. It is able to pierce our hearts and to reveal what is holy and what is unholy, what is Spirit-led activity and what is merely human effort. It even reveals our impure motives, thoughts and attitudes in the midst of our "good" activities. Hebrews 4 also tells us that the people who keep working never reach God's rest and that the key to reaching this rest, which God prepared for us, is Jesus Christ. He is our great high priest, who accomplished all he was supposed to - and even did it on our behalf. He understands and has faced all the same weaknesses and temptations that we do, but did not sin. Through Jesus, we can race to the throne of God and find the mercy and grace we need to carry us through, to give our spirits the rest we need and can't get on our own, and to enable us to ultimately enter the heavenly rest prepared for us.

The difference between effort and works and the invitation to really rest in the presence of God through the completed work of Jesus changed my life. I haven't been the same since, and I'm glad. Are you desperate for the rest God has for you? Rest from guilt and shame? Rest from striving to do on your own what only God can do in you? The invitation is still open. Let Jesus lead you by faith to God's throne of grace, and experience the promised rest that God has prepared for His people.