The Rest We Really Need: More Than Just Sleep
We are almost a week into daylight saving time, and some of us are not getting the rest we need! It seems to take a couple of weeks for our bodies to adjust to the one hour difference every time we change our clocks. The time change this year coincided with Matthew 11:28-30 in my Bible reading plan, but I don’t think Jesus had standard time or daylight savings time in his thoughts when he offered us rest.
I was listening to a podcast recently where Russell Moore interviewed a poet and philosopher named David Whyte. In their discussion, Whyte described a conversation he once had with a friend who was a Benedictine monk. Whyte confessed to the monk that he was exhausted. The monk could tell that Whyte was genuinely exhausted but then said something very curious: “The antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest.” Their conversation continued, and the Benedictine said, “The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness.”
Jesus was not simply concerned about getting enough sleep, though the psalmist tells us in Psalm 127 that God gives his beloved sleep. Jesus was well aware of the heavy burdens the teachers of the law placed upon those who sought to follow God. No one could live up to the law. Jesus was offering life filled with forgiveness, hope, and purpose.
Receiving the rest for our souls that Jesus offers does not come simply from slowing down. On more than one occasion, the Pharisees criticized Jesus for not keeping the sabbath. In fact, in the next chapter of Matthew Jesus reframed the sabbath, suggesting that the sabbath is not simply about not working; it is also about doing good.
Maybe the Benedictine monk was on to something. When we take on the yoke of Christ and learn from Jesus, we discover that transformation comes to us when we wholeheartedly give our lives to Jesus. I think this is akin to what Jesus meant when we told us not to worry but to seek first God’s kingdom and everything else will be added or given to us.
Go ahead and take a nap when you are tired. But if we really want to receive the peace of God and know his rest, we will find it in complete abandonment to the ways and life of Jesus.
Father, today we hear your invitation to come to you. We are burdened by the worries of this world, but today we choose to lay them down at your feet. Today we choose to accept the gift of life and rest that you offer when we are willing to wholeheartedly follow you. Forgive us for the many times we have resisted you and chosen our own path. Fill us with your Spirit that we might fully rest in the grace and mercy of Jesus. Amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Matthew 11:28-30, 12:1-8; Psalm 127:2 ESV
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