Confusing Rest With Ease

I have been in a lengthy and evolving conversation with two good friends over the definition of rest and how I might enjoy it by faith.  For most of my life, I have equated rest with passivity.  I “unplug” or “check out” in order to distance myself from having to think of anything or anyone other than myself.  I can make tight and compelling arguments as an introvert for the need for solitude or alone time.  I can accurately assess the frazzled ends of my emotional ropes and conclude the best course of action to be to disengage the mind and body from the world for a long enough stretch to feel rejuvenated.  Only when I have had enough time to unwind can I then reenter the fray and give of my time and energy once again.  

Now, obviously there is a need for physical rest.  We are finite creatures who will die without sleep and nourishment.  We are emotionally frail and cannot exist in a constant flurry of feeding the homeless and saving the whales and working a part time job to save all the cold, shivering puppies.  If we fail to rest, we will never be able to endure over the long haul…we may even fail to make it through a single week.  

But what I have begun asking is what does it really mean to rest?  Sometimes, I can watch TV for a long period of time and never feel rested.  Maybe the show I’m watching produces anxiety in me rather than joy.  Maybe the nail-biter football game isn’t really a restful activity.  

Maybe by turning on the TV when I’m bored, I’m actually harming myself.  Maybe instead of helping me rest, it’s zapping me of emotional energy and strength.  Maybe instead of replenishing the storehouses of energy and zeal, it is dulling my abilities to interact with the rest of creation.  Maybe for you, your default resting mechanism is Twitter or other social media sites.  Maybe it’s turning to food or another seemingly harmless comfort that becomes difficult to resist when you’re tired or strung out.  

Maybe we’ve believed a lie about what rest really is and how God intends us to pursue it.  I’m becoming more and more convinced that this is exactly what I’ve bought into and need to repent of.  For my entire life, I’ve been confusing rest with ease.  And by God’s grace, I’m attempting a 180.  I’m trying to reject that lie and conform my mind and my life to what God has said about rest.  

Here’s the crux of it:  rest is an activity that requires intentionality.  

Ministry teaches a guy this in a hurry.  You either exist on adrenaline, pushing through the sputtering gas tank of emotional fumes, or reach breaking point after breaking point when facing difficult situations of the people you love, or you become emotionally distant and wall your heart off from outside threats and lose the compassion of Jesus.  None of these options are pleasing to God.  

I have not suddenly become superman by stepping into a role as pastor.  In fact, I reach my limitations much more quickly most days of the week.  And I’m more and more aware that if I don’t actively pursue rest, I will fail, not just at ministry, but at life.  

But rest is not easy, and it’s not passive.  It takes effort and intentionality to rest well by faith.  

This isn’t fully worked out in my mind yet, but I’m convinced that the above is true.  

Jesus has convinced me of this from meditating on His words in Matthew 11:28-30:

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.

Now, granted, Jesus is speaking about a rest that can never be fully experienced until the resurrection, when a Christian is made whole and given a new body in a new, eternal dwelling place with God Almighty.  All earthly efforts to rest will prove ultimately futile.  Sin prevents full and lasting rest in the here and now.  

However, because the Kingdom of God has come near in the Person of Jesus Christ, God, by His grace, offers the Christian true, albeit incomplete, rest in the here and now.  It’s this already-but-not-yet tension of the Kingdom of God that makes rest a legitimate pursuit now with the caveat that my true rest is coming down the road when my King comes for me.  (these two paragraphs are for any seminary friends who may read this and think I’m just missing the meaning of Jesus!)

It’s this second sense of rest I am seeking after in the here and now.  And notice Jesus’ very first word…it is an invitation to “come.”  He doesn’t say “be brought to me” or “wait for me to come to you.”  He invites me to come to Him…He calls me to action.  

The risen Jesus tells me to actively pursue rest by coming to Him.  That seems hard and counterintuitive!  I have to engage my mind when I pursue Jesus.  I have to exert energy to “come” to Him, even if that energy is merely making the conscious decision to acknowledge His presence.  Now, I don’t think this means that rest always looks like sitting at a desk studying the Scriptures, even though I think it probably means this more than it means “sit in the dark and say ‘OOOHhhhhmmmm.’”  But rest can be hard!  

If I accept Jesus’ invitation, it very well may mean that He exposes my heart and confronts me with the anxiety or idolatrous comforts that beckon for my attention.  It will at least mean that my mind and heart are engaged rather than checked out, and that always requires effort.  But notice that Jesus promises rest through our pursuit of Him.  

And it seems silly to think of this rest as only a sometime-in-the-distant-future reality…as silly as it seems to think of those hungering and thirsting for righteousness as having not even a snack or appetizer in the here and now to tide them over until the eschaton.  

So I conclude that Jesus offers real rest in the here and now.  

And the rest He offers me requires me, by faith, to actively come to Him.  

Rest takes work.  But what cheap and chaff-like substitutes we prefer when we slough off to our favorite corner of the couch and turn on the TV.  

TV says, “Come to me and I’ll make your life easy.  I’ll entertain you and help you to forget about the world’s problems and your unmet desires.”

Food says, “Come to me and you’ll find comfort in the midst of life’s craziness.  I will satisfy your desires.”  

Fill in the blank says, “Come to me again and again and for a short while you might feel a little better.  And I’ll always be here when you need to unplug and unwind.”

Jesus says, “Come to Me and I will give you rest.”

I’m not going to accept a cheap substitute.

I’m going to the One who is Himself my eternal rest.  Day by day.  To find real rest by faith.