“Our hearts will not find rest until they find rest in Thee.” St. Augustine

When was the last time you found real REST for your soul?

Maybe you are someone who enjoys taking naps, but even really good naps do not last forever. We need to take a break from the busyness of life and find rest in God.

Resting in Christ is a rest we can find no matter the chaos that is happening around us. In Christ alone, we can find true rest, true peace. Rest for our souls can be found in the arms of Jesus.

Have you been feeling restless?
When was the last time you found rest in the arms of Jesus?

Will you pause now even in this moment and just BE? (Pause, really I mean it.)

How was that?

Our hearts will not find rest until they find rest in God alone. Our hearts tend to be restless until we come into the relationship of knowing Jesus Christ. Whether you find yourself in a super busy season of life or in a not-so busy season, God invites all of us to come and find our REST in Him.

In our Genesis 2:2-3, we are told that God rested after creating the world. On the seventh day, even God rested. God created the Sabbath Day. God knew we humans would need some rest from our labors.

How good are we at taking a pause and spending the day or even an hour of our day with God?

For some of us, it’s pretty natural. For others, it is harder. If we are not intentional about tending to our souls, we may find ourselves with an overwhelmed schedule and an underwhelmed heart. Our souls are longing for some rest.

Wherever you find yourself, know that God invites us to come and find our rest. Jesus even talks about this!

In Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) Jesus says, “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.”

Three verses. It may seem easy, but sometimes what seems easy is hard.

We live in a culture that is very production driven. We are often evaluated on our doing and not our being. Jesus does not just invite us to come and DO things. Jesus invites us to come and rest. In Jesus, we can come and just BE and not have to always DO. We don’t have to DO anything to earn God’s love or God’s favor. The work of our salvation has already been done in Christ.

There is a part of our faith that does call us to DO as we respond to God’s love. There is also a part of our faith that calls us to just BE….to REST in the arms of God.

Jesus invites us to do that in these verses in Matthew. Jesus says COME. The invitation is to all-to all who are weary and burdened. Jesus says to “COME.” We come and Jesus gives us rest. You can stop the DOING and just step into the BEING.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.” Jesus

In music, the rests often make the music sound more beautiful. The rests also give the woodwinds and brass a chance to catch their breath. Sometimes we need to pause and not be doing something.,\ We need to take a break from the DOING. It is the pauses of music that sometimes make it more beautiful. The rests are needed along with the notes to be played.

Just as writing paper has margins, we too need some margin or space in our lives.

God did the work of creation and then took time to pause. We too need to take time to pause. We need to take time to rest in God and have our souls renewed.

The invitation from Jesus is to COME.

Have you taken the time lately to drop your anchor or to stop and smell the roses? To sit and be rocked in the arms of Jesus? I encourage you to BE still and KNOW that He is God. To COME and find your REST in the arms of God.

Jesus invites us to COME. Have you accepted that invitation?

Rev. Haley Hausman
Pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Kewanee

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of The Kewanee Voice.