Rest For Your Souls: Come to Me

As we rushed to leave the house, only two tasks stood in our way. Putting clothes on the baby and packing the diaper bag. I took the baby and my husband took the diaper bag. As he gathered extra diapers and wipes, he hesitated when he found two small yellow tubes in the drawer. One contained baby lotion and the other diaper cream. “Which one is the diaper cream?” he asked. “The yellow tube!” I responded without looking up.

It did not take long for us to realize the wrong tube made its way into the diaper bag. Instead of diaper cream, we packed lotion. Both creams outwardly looked the same, but inwardly had a different purpose. One protects the skin from moisture and the other puts moisture back into the skin. At the end of the day, it was not a big deal. We found the right cream once we got home and no baby skin was harmed! 

Same color, but different products!

How often do we mistake one thing for another? 

We live in a cultural moment which values and prioritizes self-care. With ever rising numbers of burn out, finding a healthy work-life-balance matters. Humans cannot constantly be on the go. We literally need rest to survive. 

So, we take a coffee break or go for a walk in nature. We enjoy a long vacation or sleep in on the weekend. We watch a Netflix series or read another self-help book. We go to a yoga studio or start each day with a guided meditation using our smart phone.

And yet, we still feel tired. 

Even good habits that promise to give us rest, only provide momentary relief. It’s like trying to use diaper cream instead of lotion on our skin. Are we looking for rest in the wrong places? 

In the Bible, Jesus made a beautiful promise about rest. He said that he can give us rest for our souls and invited us into a relationship with him.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light’” (Matthew 11:28-30, NLT). 

We should turn to Jesus in order to receive rest for our souls. No other habit, product, or philosophy can provide this kind of rest. Only Jesus can give us true, enduring, sufficient, and eternal rest.

Does this mean that if we believe in Jesus, then we will never again feel tired? No!

We cannot escape all the responsibilities and situations on this earth that weary us. Jesus’ promise, however, drastically changes where we seek rest on both easy and hard days. 

“Come to me…” Jesus said. 

Practically speaking, this means spending time with him. That could involve reading the Bible or confessing our burdens to him in prayer. It could also mean putting away our devices and sitting in silence, exhausted but open to receiving a deeper sense of Jesus’ restful presence.

Sometimes the way to experience Jesus’ rest means being vulnerable and spending time with other people. That’s why Community Church exists! When we allow God’s people into our lives, they then become a tangible expression of Jesus carrying our burdens. 

Have you mistaken temporary sources of rest for true rest in Jesus? 

If you want to learn how to experience rest in a relationship with Jesus, please reach out to us. We would love to meet you and hope to see you at our first Worship Gathering on 3 December. We will post more information about that exciting day soon.