Are you in need of rest? Don’t be fooled. Don’t look for it in the wrong places. Turn to God, get away with him, and find real rest for your soul.

Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. (Matthew 11:29, AMP,*)

God is gentle and humble at heart. He wants what’s best for us. We can trust him 100%. When we do that and surrender to him, we find what we were looking for: rest.

And we learn what rest is all about:
relief and
ease and
refreshment and
recreation and
blessed quiet
for our souls.

Recreation and refreshment apart from God does not bring rest for our souls. Apart from God our life is just vanity and does not bring peace no matter how hard we try to find it. Apart from God we do not find real rest. But in God we find relief, ease, refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet for our souls. Time after time.

You would think we had learned it by heart already. That we would guard our time with him with everything we’ve got. That our quiet time with Jesus would be the last thing to go from our schedule. But, sadly, our priorities are off the quilter. We let almost anything to overtake our time with Jesus. And then we wonder why we are restless.

Jesus says Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] (Matthew 11:28, AMP,*)

Why don’t you give up all your excuses and run to God? The first thing every morning. I guarantee you will recover your life. You will learn to live freely and lightly. Because that’s what grace does for you.

 

Gracious God,
Forgive us for not putting you first in our lives.
Forgive us for not trusting your promises.
Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Teach us the unforced rhythms of grace.
Give us real rest for our souls.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Have you learned to prioritize God in your schedule!

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you find real rest in God!

* [As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses to Biblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.]

Image courtesy of  ochristian.com, design Mari-Anna Stålnacke. Linking up today with Faith-filled Fridays, Five Minute Friday, and Faith Barista.