True rest can be found in Jesus

In the Wartgow house, the summer months can look a little bit different than the rest of the year. The kids have some extra time off, the extended light of the day allows for more family bike rides, and the hot weather typically drives us to the coast.

However, I also want to use these changes in rhythm to remind myself of where true rest comes from. It comes from Christ. In one of my favorite passages of scripture, Jesus tells us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Jesus knows that in a fallen world, true rest only comes through Him. The world cannot give you what only Christ has. When you begin to understand that reality, you can see yourself and Jesus rightly. It is far too easy to forget who

God is and overestimate yourself. In Isaiah 40:28-31 the Bible gives us a clear picture of this reality, “28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.  29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30  Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

To be faint and weary for the Christian is often an invitation to go to the one who calls you to come to Him. Stop trying to muster the energy on your own to keep going, but give yourself to the one who has all power and gives strength to the lowly (v. 29). Maybe God has you in a different rhythm (season) of life, not so you would figure out a way to handle it on your own, but that you would turn and rest in Him. To rest and trust in a God who knows all things and works all things according to His perfect will. A God who then gives power to the faint and gives rest in Him. Maybe, like the Apostle Paul, who, despite all of his knowledge and experience, still needed to be reminded of these truths, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:9-10).

Luke Wartgow is senior pastor at Carson Valley Bible Church