“Rest and Restlessness"

"Rest and Restlessness"

     Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ live in a dichotomy of rest and restlessness.

    "We which have believed do enter into rest… he that is entered into His rest, he hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His" (Hebrews 4:3; 10).

    "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).

    Our Heavenly Father would have experience the spiritual repose of complete confidence in our relationship with Him through Christ.  He began and He maintains the bond of love between us.  "Of Him are in Christ Jesus… He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 1:30; Philippians 1:6).  Moreover, the Lord promises His abiding and available presence in blessing, challenge, and every moment of our lives.  "I am with you always… I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5).  Thus, we may and must rest in "the unsearchable riches of Christ" provided to all who cease from our own works in light and lieu of the work of the Lord Jesus for our sakes (Ephesians 3:8).

   Conversely, we must never be satisfied with our knowledge of God, or our response to Him of love, faith, devotion, obedience, and a life that reveals His glory and goodness to others.  Relationship and fellowship with the Lord of the Bible involves our quest to walk with One possessed of infinite nature, character, and being.  By definition, therefore, we will never exhaust the riches of discovery that beckons us to come ever further, ever deeper, ever higher into the wonder that eternally awaits us.  God Himself is that wonder, existing as the poet's "Shoreless Ocean" whose horizon we will never reach.  "His greatness is unsearchable!" (Psalm 145:3).  Thus, no matter how deeply we discover and know our Lord, we will experience the restlessness of "further… deeper … higher" even as we rejoice in the peace of having "entered into His rest".

    Regardless of how well we know Him, or how well we will ever know Him, our journey into God will always seem to have just begun.  Again, Infinity of character, nature, and being beckons us.  "Oh how great is Thy goodness which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee!" (Psalm 31:19).  Come and rest, He calls to us.  And then come further, and deeper, and higher.  

There is no end to the quest we know,

forever beckons on.

For we soar in skies so bright and blue,

above all clouds and storm.

Yes, we fly into the heart of God, 

as in His Son we trust,

and earth will soon be nothing more

than long forgotten dust.

So spread your wings and catch the wind,

o journeyman of hope,

and race toward horizons blessed

with those who also know

That the quest of hearts is Jesus,

He is our shining sun,

it matters not how far we've come,

the Journey's just begun.

"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."

(I Timothy 1:17)

Weekly Memory Verse

   The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.

(Proverbs 11:17)