Choose Rest

6/18/2010 Choose Rest

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, 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 11:28-20 ESV

We work hard for our money on this planet. We spend at least 40 hours a week going to jobs that quite often we do not like to work with people we’d rather not see and to receive a paycheck that is just not enough. How much of our life is spent in this rigorous, monotonous pattern? If the average person works full time for 40 years of their life at 40 hours per week then at the end of their working life, assuming two weeks of vacation a year, they would have spent 80,000 hours working! That’s a lot of wasted time if you don’t enjoy what you are doing. There has got to be a better way.

God always intended for human beings to work. He gave Adam his instructions for the work God called him to do. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15 ESV). God created the earth and man in six days and rested on the seventh. Man was present for the day of rest. God did the hard stuff. Adam didn’t have to create the earth. Everything was already done. Adam was responsible to work the creation of God and keep it. To keep something means to guard or protect it. Adam was tasked with the protection of God’s creation. What on earth would try to harm God’s creation if everything was perfect? Well, man for one. We are the ones who destroy the earth. God knew beforehand that man would fall. The fall of the first man and woman was not a surprise to God. However, God also knew that in time, Jesus would come along and put us in position to get back to the state of rest where we could work on purpose and not for money. We can get back to ensuring that God’s creation is cared for properly in every way.

Jesus says that those who labor should come to Him and He will provide rest for their souls. How does He do that? Does it mean that we stop having to go to work? On the contrary. We still work, but we work on purpose. We work from a position of rest. We work in what God called us to instead of what we decide to do for money. That is a much different way to spend your 80,000 hours. You use your time wisely. You use your time on purpose. We don’t spend our time working for things that cause further damage to God’s creation just to make a dollar. We don’t spend our time working for a paycheck and forgetting about the condition of our souls. We don’t work to store up for ourselves a huge investment portfolio so that we can one day do nothing (See Luke 12:13-21). No, we work for our Father. We take care of what He has created. His land, His people, His animals, His earth. It is all His and if we are able to worship Him in spirit and in truth, then we are also get the privilege to work from a position of rest.

Remember, Adam’s consequence for disobedience was to work in toil. Work does not have to be this way. Jesus invites you to take rest in Him. Take time to learn of Him and make your yoke easy and light. What is God calling you to do for Him? What is your restful job?