Rest

Rest.

A break. A pause in our tendencies. A time where the mind can just breathe. The place where simplicity, stillness, and silence reside. No anxiety or worry is near. No heaviness or weariness is close by. All is calm. Peace is at hand. Then, you wake up.

Society has made rest something that it is not. It has become a reward. Rest has been carved to fit around a busy life, instead of a busy life centered around rest. It is what is received after a exhaustive labor in order to survive and avoid burnout. In the modern day era, it is achieved, but not prioritized. It is relieving, but not sacred. It replenishes old, but does not birthe new. Rest is supposedly meant to satisfy the internal craving for nothingness but truly, its purpose is to satisfy the craving for Godliness. It has been taken and twisted to conform to a personal way of life. Rest is not eight hours of sleep, but a whole lifestyle. Rest is a choice. Rest is a Person. Rest is Jesus. To rest in Him, we must trust Him, put our hearts in the proper posture, then abide in Him and what He has done.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Christians seem to neglect the concept of sitting still. They tend to ignore being silent, sitting, and listening to the Holy Spirit because it doesn’t seem productive. Society tells us constant hard-work is what will produce change. In this way, productivity culture has a chokehold on the true meaning of rest. It takes hold of, allows for little breaks here and there but demands full control over a situation when things get hectic. The problem here is the innate, God given desire of resting in Him is completely neglected. People cannot stop. They cannot pause. They cannot give up control, but they can talk about Jesus when it fits their timing. Then it is questioned why being a Christian seems so exhausting, but it was never meant to be. When you do not rest, doubt, exhaustion, and pain are aroused in a way that makes every burden seem heavy and magnified. It produces a cycle of self- sufficiency that causes a downhill spiral. It puts a pressure on your relationship with God. It expects Him to perform in a certain way for things to be fixed. Reality is- our burdens are not meant to be carried by us, they are meant to be carried by the one who has already taken them, so we can have rest.

Directly in Matthew 11:28, Jesus says to “come.” By coming ears and eyes are opened. Hearts are unbound. A fire from the Spirit falls freshly upon us that sets everything in our paths ablaze. A reminder is needed that He has already borne the weight of all burdens on the cross. What good does it do to carry what has already been carried? The only thing a human heart was ever created to bear is the burden of Jesus. How is that achieved? By coming and finding rest solely in who He is and what He has done. It sounds conceptually difficult but it really means to constantly be in the posture of submission. It means to sit at the feet of Jesus and know that He has worked everything out for good. No need to tirelessly toil. Just sit with Him. Rest is received by sitting in stillness with Jesus, but many don’t have any room for sitting available in their hearts. How is true rest supposed to be achieved if no room has been prepared for Jesus to abide in? People often let Jesus into our brokenness but do not allow Him to carry their brokenness. There is a large difference there. You can easily tell somebody about your struggles while simultaneously bearing them all alone. Christians are not called to do that. They are called to take upon the yoke of Jesus and learn from Him. They are called to bear Him as their struggle. The best part is, Jesus is everything but a struggle. We get the good end of the deal. He gets to carry our weight. We get Him.

The main reason why Christians cannot accept rest is because they do not truly trust. Rest needs sacrifice. Sacrifice means giving up what you think must be done in order to achieve a certain goal. He desires for us to abide in Him so our souls can be refreshed. That could be time, the chore you feel like would make your day better, or any form of preparation. Resting in Jesus says,

“God, I have a lot of work to do and there are things I could do to temporarily fix that, but instead I’m going to give them up and know that You have worked it out. You sustain Me, not a job, title, or position. I will sacrifice my comfort, for your glory to be revealed. Thank You for blessing my rest.”

In order to follow the path God has laid out while staying full of rest, abiding with the Vine is necessary. John 15:4 NIV says,

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” Notice how we do not have anything to produce fruit by ourselves. We can try and try but ultimately it is impossible without abiding with the Vine. By abiding, or resting, with Jesus, all we do is sit with Him and fruit is produced. We can easily put our bodies into a sitting posture to submit to the Lord, but what about our hearts? What even is heart posture? Posture is the position, over the long run, that will provide the least strain on your body for when you go through difficult and weight- bearing activities. So, heart posture is the position of the heart that provides the least amount of strain for difficult and weight- bearing (or laden) seasons. Your heart is not able to produce rest if it is not in the correct posture. That is why submitting the things that do not bring rest over to Jesus is necessary. Once submission is upheld, He can move in ways fully unexpected.

Often from the position of rest, we are able to hear, see, and think of things that we never could without resting. Spontaneity is what makes the Holy Spirit so beautiful. He works with the unworkable. He whispers to come to Him when things get loud. While resting in Jesus gives us a supernatural motivation, it also furthers the kingdom. It opens the door only the sitting can see.

“Take my yoke upon you.” He says in Matthew 11:29. A yoke was used to join two oxen- one inexperienced and one experienced together- to pull heavy weight. The yoke was made to control. Jesus calls His followers to put on His easy yoke and remove their way of harshly planning and controlling things. He calls them to carry His light burden. He knows where the path is leading to. He knows what weight is being carried. He wants to hold it all. He wants to lead. He wants to give rest. He teaches so His children may learn. All because it is what the soul craves. When we rest in Jesus we act out of assurance that He can do what we cannot do. It is not a nap, or a pause of life. Rest is Jesus. It is the man who came to bear every burden we would ever encounter. Now there is no weight to carry. He has taken it all.

Rest.

Written by: Kate on 09/26/22