Grace For The Journey

  Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

What a powerful word of comfort that is for those of us who are tired today!

Yet, there are two kinds of “rest” in view here.  Let’s take a look at them both.

1. Temporal Rest

I am not sure who said it, but a favorite and beneficial reminder for me is, “There is more to life than increasing its speed.”  How right they are . . . and how often I forget it! I am sure many of you are a lot like me; we are all busy and exhausted.

Yet, if we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior,

We have been promised a temporal rest from our weariness.

You see, Jesus was not only fully divine, He was also fully human; and in His human nature, He needed rest every bit as much as you and I do.  He worked with His hands as a carpenter, and it was hard work, because He had no electric tools to ease His labor.  By the end of the day, He was undoubtedly tired, just like any of us after a long day’s work.

And that is why He invites us into this kind of temporal rest.

Jesus knew the importance of rest and understands exactly what we need by way of His own personal experience.

The key is to remember to rest in Him . . .

Not in the countless other things we look to but do not deliver.

1. Eternal Rest

Beyond temporal rest lies the most important rest of all: the eternal rest that is promised to us on the other side of the grave.  The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has secured an eternal rest for the believer that surpasses all understanding.  It is a rest that we will experience because everything that was once broken will be made whole. We will labor, but without the thorns and thistles of judgment.  We will love without envy or regret.  We will live a life of unbroken fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ and we will know Him as He is.

So . . . where does this message find you today?  Are you tired and weary and heavy-laden?

Remember that we rest in Jesus

By spending time with Him each day

And letting Him give us His strength.

The Bible says in Isaiah 40:28-31, “Have you not known??  Have you not heart?  The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary.  His understanding is unsearchable.  He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.  But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Whatever you are going through that steals your strength, Jesus went through it also . . . and so much more!

Look to Him … Learn from Him … Lean upon Him

Once you have taken time to rest in Jesus, reflect on the promised rest that is to come one day soon in that place Jesus has prepared just for you, a place where there will be no more tears, pain, sorrow, or death.

Now that’s a promised rest worth preparing for!

This is God Word … This is Grace for your Journey

… Rest And Rejoice In The Wonderful Truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”