“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”— Matthew 11:28-30 MSG
The soul is the invisible component of man, the place where the real you exist. It is the seat of personality, the conscious and living part in man. It’s where we perceive, reflect, feel, and desire.
Jesus is the great Shepherd, Overseer and Guardian of our souls according to 1 Peter 2:25. But sin is a waster of life! It has the capacity to weaken us both spiritually and physically.
When we wilfully practice sin, we lose our joy, peace, and fellowship with God. When we live in sin, we practically waste away physically and spiritually whether we believe it or not. It is even more tragic and painful for those who have seen and tasted of the goodness of God! “Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins. My guilt overwhelms me— it is a burden too heavy to bear.” Psalms 38:3-4 (NLT)
To find rest for our souls, there is a need to first acknowledge and accept that there’s been a shifting and a movement away from God. “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.” Isaiah 53:6 (NLT)
There’s a need to return to God in repentance and walk in the ways He has mapped out for us. We don’t find forgiveness of sin by hiding it, being in denial or actively engaged in works. We find forgiveness by confessing our sin and making a U-turn.
Jesus invites us to find relief by coming to Him and casting all our cares upon Himself. Coming to Jesus should not be a “once-upon-a-time” experience. We come to Him in such a way as to abide in Him continually. That’s how we can find rest for our soul.
You may be surrounded by challenges to do with family, health, finances, relationship, work and so on. You may have fasted and prayed for God to change the situation but there’s no guarantee that the situation will change.
God does, however, expect us to have a changed attitude towards the challenges we face. Our attitude should be that of complete confident trust and surrender to God. An undefiled praise and heartfelt worship of the one who is more than able to change our circumstances.
To experience rest for our soul, there’s no better place to be than keeping company with Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus, for a wonderful invitation to walk and work with You. We don’t need to be bent under the weight of sin and life’s challenges. You won’t lay anything heavy or burdensome on us, instead you guarantee us freedom and perfect rest in You. Amen!
Stay blessed,
LaraLex
Hills and Valleys 