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Rest Should Be Easy
Rest is something that I think that we have an uncomfortable relationship with. Rest should be easy, but so often it isn't.
Hebrews 4:9
Today I want to talk about rest. Rest is something that I think that we have an uncomfortable relationship with. Rest should be easy. It should be a simple thing. It should come naturally to us. But so often it doesn’t. In America, in our country, half of workers, more than half do not take their full allotted vacation days, which is a shocking statistic to me.
More than half of those people who are given an opportunity to rest do not take that opportunity. They would rather work than than take those days off. Rest feels like it should come natural, but it doesn’t. In our culture, it seems like productivity, busyness is a virtue. And so even those rare occasions, those rare instances where we get a chance to rest, we feel guilty. We feel like we should be more productive, we should be getting more stuff done.
Wouldn’t a little bit of rest be so wonderful right now? And not just physical rest, but spiritual rest. Rest from worries and sickness. The stress of getting things done. Rest from feeling divided from people that we should feel united with instead. Rest from guilt. Rest from fears. Rest from doubts. Rest from the hardness of our own hearts. Hebrews 4, verse nine reminds us that Jesus offers this rest to you right now. Not just at some point in the future, but today.
So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. (Hebrews 4:9)
Jesus won that rest for you and he offers it to you right now. And he won this rest for you by doing everything. By accomplishing everything, by doing all of the work necessary to give you this rest. He came to Earth and then he lived among us. He took on our human flesh and he lived perfectly. He fulfilled the law of God. He never once sinned. He never once fell into temptation. He went into battle every single day against the devil and won. And then he goes to the cross and he lays down his innocent life. And there he wins that victory over Satan through his death, and then makes us heirs, co victors with him through this awesome gift of faith by making us his people.
So now we get to rest in the knowledge that all of the work of our salvation has been completed. There remains today a Sabbath rest for you, for the people of God. Freedom from fear and worry and guilt and sin. This is what Jesus has won for you. Know and believe that the work is complete, that the victory has been won by Christ, and that in his grace, in his mercy, he holds out to you this wonderful free gift of eternal rest, both now and forever. Amen.
