Receive Rest
As 2025 picks up momentum, I’m loving being challenged to find rest in the middle of the busyness. So many things have begun to shape our pace and we’re only halfway through January!
Take a deep breath. Slow down your body. Close your eyes for a moment.
Check out last Sunday’s Sermon, “A Resting Place for the Weary” from our The Resting Place series
The call of “The Resting Place” is not just to go to places where we find rest, to learn techniques for resting, or to follow people who teach rest, but to become the type of person who rest flows through.
Because, in the bible, rest isn’t just a quality or a state, but a Person.
One time, the philosopher-theologian, Dallas Willard, was asked what he thought was the most important virtue of Jesus.
He could have said love. Peace. Self-sacrifice. Wisdom…
But Dallas said, “Jesus was relaxed!”
Relaxed?
Relaxed.
What a striking quality.
Calm. Centered. Assured.
Yeah, that sounds like Jesus.
His love. His peace. His healing. Even His self-sacrifice flowed from the abundance of His rest.
Right after Jesus famously says, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden…” He reveals the secret of rest, “And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Jesus lived in rest because He is REST. When we come to Him, we trade our burdens for His yoke, and begin to learn from Him, to stay near Him, to shift and shape our priorities around His.
When God rested on the seventh day, He began an eternal rest that has never stopped (Genesis 2:1-3). When Jesus stepped into His creation, He carried that same unending rest in His Spirit (Matthew 12:1-8).
And when we place our faith in Jesus, we receive the deepest well imaginable, a well of endless rest.
You don’t have to strive to rest.
There’s no formula.
There’s no special technique.
It’s only in receiving from Him and then living in that relationship.
Where would you like to experience His rest today?
Share this with Him.
We'll see you Sunday,
Pastor Dave
PS. If you liked the videos we used on Sunday, check out:
Also, for those who want to dig deeper into The Resting Place, here’s a short teaching from scholar and theologian, NT Wright overviewing the Temple from Eden to Jesus –
NT Wright - The Temple - The Stages of God's Dwelling