There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
Hebrews 4:9-11
God has provided a rest for His people. It remains there for us to enter. It is not something that we have to wait for heaven to begin to experience. We can begin to explore our rest now. We can build a life of peace and stability as we rest in Him.
We enter Christ’s rest by putting down our own attempts to earn or deserve our salvation. We rest on His finished work. When Jesus said “It is finished!” he meant it. Our part is to believe in the One whom God sent. We can never count on our deeds or character to bring us into relationship with God. That can only be mediated by Jesus Christ as our great high priest.
Whatever rest we will enter into in Christ will require us to sacrifice our own work. We will have to stop building our own kingdom and begin to live in the one He is building. Resting in God for many of us is hard work. That means we have to be diligent (work hard) to rest. KJV says let us “labor” to enter the rest. NIV says “make every effort” to enter the rest. We see that it is no easy thing to give up our attempts to save ourselves, even after we are saved! It can be even harder to stop serving our own kingdom. I encourage us all to rest in Christ. Meet with Him daily and find out what assignment He has for you. Remember His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
Working to Rest,
Pastor Jason
No comments:
Post a Comment