Come Unto Me

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest  (Matthew 11:28 ESV).

 

Her stern and exact words to me were, “Stop reading, but the book down, and rest.” I thought that I was resting but I wasn’t. To be perfectly honest with you I had not rested in well over a month and at that time there was not a greater physical, mental or emotional need that I had other than to rest. Strangely enough, I thought that resting is exactly what I was doing; after all, I was sitting on the couch, I had a pen, a highlighter and a book, I was fully engaged in a book by Matt Chandler entitled ‘The Mingling of Souls’ and for me this was rest. Or so I thought….

My wife made it very clear to me that day that not only was I reading but I was also working. I love books. I love being around books. I own somewhere around 700 physical books not including commentaries and study guides. I have about 100 books on Kindle and thousands of books on my Logos 6 Bible Software. I love reading history and biographies. I love books and articles concerning ecclesiology. I read a lot of books on leadership. My favorite books and those that I spend the most time with are books about the pastoral and preaching ministry. Still, like I said, my reading has often become working and working all of the time is not healthy. It’s not healthy for me as a husband, a father, a minister or as a leader. Neither is it healthy for you. Everybody needs rest and as much as I’d like for reading to be restful thats not always the case. This post really is not about my love for books or my enjoyment for reading but more-so about an invitation to rest.

Our idea of rest often involves us engaging in an activity that we love. Rest in our mind often includes a what, so some of us go golfing for relaxation but  at the time we tee off if by chance we shank that little white ball to far to the left or right then there goes our relaxation for the next 19 holes. Some of rest by watching a ball game but as soon as our team begins to make mistakes our blood pressure begins to boil and we start yelling at the television. My wife is a licensed cosmetologist, she loves and is good at what she does but her “day off” is often spent looking through hair magazines or pictures, she is often examining new ways of doing what she does better, she is always looking for new styles and best practices as it concerns healthy hair. As you can see even though she is away from the salon and engaged in a day off she has often found herself engaged in the what which in this case is often something as simple as a magazine.

Another thing that we often base our rest on is a where. Men like my father had this really bad. Every year we would travel to Memphis, TN for vacation. Truth be told this really was not a vacation for my father it was just a return trip home. Did he enjoy being back home with his mother, sisters, neices and nephews; did he enjoy the drive from Illinois to Tennessee with his wife and children? Of course he did but the place he was going naturally was not a place a rest and relaxation. For my father Tennessee really was not a place of rest, relaxation and vacation, at least not exclusively. A lot of us have a place that we have deemed as that place of rest but sometimes that place turns out not to be the rest we really need.

I have a study at home that is filled with books, in other words my what of rest and my where of rest is linked together. However if my family and I relocated to a smaller place and I had no room to consider a study or if for some tragedy occurred and I lost all of my books what would I do for rest, where would I go for rest? The reality is the what and the where really makes no difference, at least not compared to the who. In this Gospel, Jesus declares that the laborer that recieves his invitation will have the gift of rest. Lately I have had some real struggles. Striving to mature as a godly husband and father is no easy task. Ministry has been rough. Work has been extremely difficult and attempting to be a leader in such a wicked community has taken it’s toll on me emotionally, financially and physically at the least. However Christ has invited me to rest in him. This means that I don’t have to retire to my study for a temporary rest, I don’t have to engage in my books for rest. I can wholly rest in the presence of Christ. Any issue that I may have growing as a husband and father I can give it to him. Ministry desires, I just give them to him. Work is difficult but God is in control. The city I serve in is racist, rough and if there were a portrait for a city that is the absolute opposite of righteous then Rockford, IL is unarguably that city but God can turn this thing around.

Rest is what I need and perhaps Rest is that you need as well. You should know what I’ve learned or what I’m learning; rest is not defined by your what or your where; rest is simply found and defined in your who. For me rest wasn’t really found in my books or in my study, rest was found absolutely in my who. Jesus provided an invitation for those who are burdened by the issues of life and he will provide recovery, refreshment and rest. Right now I need the type of rest that I’ve never gotten out of my books or my study. At this point in life I need only that which Jesus can and will provide.