Focus: The Offer Still Stands (Pt.6)

Text: Mt.11:28

"Come unto me."

There's always an incentive to all of Christ's invitations. Every time He invites us, He has one blessing or another to bestow on us if we accept or honor His offer. The writer of Hebrews says, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb.4:16). There is always something to gain by coming to God's throne of grace. 

We stand to gain if we come to Him. We obtain the unattainable. We become recipients of mercy and grace. God's mercy and grace afford us all the necessary and timely help that our lives so desperately need. Interestingly, God's offer lasts for all generations.

One hectic day, the Lord Jesus Christ says to His disciples, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while" (Mk.6:31). He invites His own followers to come apart for a time of rest, relaxation and reflection. 

Isn't it so wonderful and humbling to know that our God cares about us?

He wants us to rest our body and soul once in a while. It is not part of His grand design for us to work ourselves to death. Work was never designed originally to kill us. Rest after work restores our energy and equilibrium.

God knows what is good for us. He designed our body and mind to work in a particular way. Relentless work without commensurate rest depletes us and knocks us out, but through rest we recover our bodily and mental wholeness, wellness, creativity and productivity.

The importance of rest for our whole personality cannot be overstated. Augustine of Hippo said, "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee." Make your heart a home for God, and you will have real rest. God calls us to a place of rest and provides Himself as that place of rest. Alan Cohen said, "There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither." It was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who said, "We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves, otherwise we harden." Jennifer Williamson says that "real rest feels like every cell is thanking you for taking care of you. It's calm, not full of checklists and chores. It's simple: not multitasking; not fixing broken things." Finally, Rob Bell says that "renewal is what happens when you realize that some of this stuff you've been carrying around doesn't matter."

I pray that you heed the offer of Christ to come apart and rest awhile. Your mind and body need it, and Christ is the giver of true rest. The offer still stands!

Bishop Moses E. Peter