JESUS, THE ONLY TRUE REST
Susan Murray
Today’s Scripture: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28, ESV
Theme: God gives and wants to regularly provide us the rest we so desperately need.
DOING IT RIGHT
One of my insanities is that if I do “it” right, then life will be good. This means that it’s up to me to make life work. I try hard to say the right things, do the right things, and just be a good girl. How do I decide what is right? Well, it depends on whose approval I am looking for. When I measure up to someone’s standard that brings approval, then I feel acceptable - life is good. I believe that my performance is what makes me “okay” in the eyes of others. Unfortunately, I can also think this way about God. If I get “it” right, then God will approve and accept me.
BY WHAT STANDARD
Yes, God wants us to obey and do the right thing (Galatians 6:9), but when we attach our approval, value, and acceptability to it, there is a danger. If I do good, then I can become prideful and self-righteous; and if I do bad, then I experience shame. Shame makes me try harder, but it is useless because I really do not possess the power to please everybody all the time. I do not have the power to please God by doing “it” right. Romans 3:12 tells us that no one does good. Jesus Himself said that only God was good (Mark 10:18). Isaiah 64:6 says even our good deeds are dirty, which means that nothing I do measures up to God’s perfect, holy standards.
WEARY HELPLESSNESS
I have two ways to deal with not measuring up to a standard. I may just lie to myself, saying “I'm not that bad” to avoid feeling bad about myself. Or I can try harder and harder to do “it” right in order to feel acceptable. Trying harder leaves me weary, helpless, and sometimes, I feel like giving up on this Christian life. It’s just too hard! Paul felt this same helplessness as well. He lamented about how he wants to do what is right, but he keeps doing the “evil” he doesn’t want to do. He describes an internal battle of the soul. He calls himself a “wretched man” as he realizes his sinfulness (see Romans 7:14-25, NIV).
RESCUED RESTFULNESS
Paul did not try to rescue himself through denial, excuses, or minimizing. Nor did he make a promise to try harder to do better. Instead, he confessed his sin and then looked away from himself to Another. “Who will rescue (save) me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24, NIV). He was writing these verses 12 years after his conversion. He still needed Jesus--and so do we. Isaiah 30:15 states “in repentance and rest is your salvation” (NIV).
Jesus is not only our initial rescue but our ongoing rescue when we rest in Him every day. How is it that Jesus can give us rest everyday of our lives? GRACE. The approval we so desperately try to get by trying harder is a free gift. Jesus lived the perfect life we are unable to live, and He died on the cross to pay our debt of sin to God. Now we are perfectly acceptable to God, no matter our performance, good or bad. He doesn't love us more when we do right, and He doesn’t love us less if we do wrong. That is true rest for a weary soul.
“Weary, working, burden’d one,
Wherefore toil you so?
Cease your doing; all was done
Long, long ago.
Cast your deadly “doing” down—
Down at Jesus’ feet;
Stand in Him, in Him alone,
Gloriously complete.” (It is Finished by James Proctor)
Make It Personal: What is the “it” you are trying to do right so that you feel acceptable, approved, and valuable to others or God? Right now, do you feel exhausted from trying so hard to make life work? What would it look like for you to instead rest, having faith that Jesus’ performance is now your performance in God’s eyes? Christ follower, do you know that God is smiling over you right now? HE IS!! So rest.
Pray: Lord, I confess my sins of __________________. I trust in Jesus’ finished work on the cross and His resurrection. Because You already accomplished everything that truly needs doing, I can rest without fear. Help me to believe so I can remain in your rest. Amen.
Read: Romans 3:20; Ephesians 2:8-1; Romans 7:14-25; Hebrews 4:9-16; John 6:27-29
Weekly Memory Verse: “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:11, ESV