Take A Real Rest

One of my favorite sporting events to go to is Major League Baseball games, and we are blessed to have the Minnesota Twins in our backyard(about 15 minutes from our apartment). You might be asking yourself, why is Lance talking about going to baseball games? I am talking about baseball games because in its own quirky way it is my place of rest. Yes, I am surrounded by strangers as well as the crowd roaring during a tremendous play but it is peaceful to me.

My father and I are avid fans of the Boston Red Sox as we are from New England(we went to the World Series last year!), so I always was at the ballpark, and it brings me back to those moments with my father. In Matthew, Jesus talks about taking a real rest.

That poses the question to you and I: What is a real rest for us?

In life and more importantly in ministry I believe we all deal with the balancing act between our children’s ministries, work, and families. It can be a daunting task at certain points throughout the year such as Easter, VBS, and Christmas. We all eventually hit a point where we say out loud, “I need to take a rest”. I know that some people believe that rest is for when we go to Heaven; however, even God rested after creating the universe and earth.

Today as we enter into the weekend maybe that’s you, you’re saying, “Lance, I need to take a rest”. I want to encourage you with what Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life…“

One of the first things we have to realize is that we have to come to Jesus and get away with him to rest and recover our lives.

As we continue Jesus said, “I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Secondly, Jesus said that the key to taking a real rest is learning the unforced rhythms of grace. We learn the unforced rhythms of God’s grace by spending time with God and watching how He does things. In the end Jesus says that we will learn to live freely and lightly.

I know we all want to live freely and lightly, so I encourage you today to spend time with God and rest in his presence. In doing this we will learn how to take a real rest and the looming deadlines, hard week at work, and busy weekends will slip away as God’s grace covers us.