"[Jesus said,] 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.'" - Matthew 11:28
Aaahh! Rest!!! I am ready for some today, as I'm sure you are, too.
However, there's room for work. A lot of work!
But not in the way you think.
A great friend, who reads and responds to this devotion everyday, sent me another website devotion on my birthday, (http://proverbs31.org/devotions/devo/page/7/). At the heart of that devotion is this teaching that I have claimed everyday since: "The rest Jesus offers is not a spiritual sleep aid. The Greek word for this kind of rest is 'anapauo' which has as one of its definitions, 'of calm and patient expectation.'"
Now, here's what that teaching has unleashed for me, Pastor Chris, everyday. If Jesus is offering us the "rest" that is "calm and patient expectation," then Jesus doesn't want us to rest on a weekend by blocking out and forgetting about our work from a week. In each day, Jesus doesn't want us coming home and resting by drifting into a mind-numbing session of television. And for those of you who are retired, Jesus doesn't want you saying, "I'm so glad that I don't have to work anymore, and now I get to rest!"
What Jesus wants for you is a weekend, an evening, or a retirement of rest that is filled with "calm and patient expectation" that your labors have not been in vain because your work has borne fruit, is bearing fruit, and will bear fruit. After all, is there anything more wearying (even downright depressing) than giving and giving and giving of your time and your talents and your energies for a corporation or a business or a volunteer organization or a family member or just some poor soul in need that you're trying to help and then finding out that it was all a waste of your time and talent and energy? Well, in Jesus Christ, you can "rest" assured with "calm and patient expectation" that if your labors have not already borne fruit, Jesus promises that they will!
This is the rest that God enjoyed on Day 7 of Creation as described in Genesis 1 & 2; God was resting with "calm and patient expectation" that his labors had borne fruit, were bearing fruit, and would always bear fruit! And that's the same rest that he calls us to enjoy in the Ten Commandments with the Sabbath rest. And that's the same rest in today's Bible verse from Jesus.
So, knowing with calm and patient expectation that your work has not been in vain, enjoy your evening, your weekend, your retirement!
"[Jesus said,] 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.'" - Matthew 11:28
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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