Rest or Relax?

Last night as I went to bed I thought about the difference between resting and relaxing.  Relaxing our bodies after a hard day's work is a gift from God.  Enjoying an uneventful weekend can be a great blessing to help us recover.  But when it comes to spiritual matters, when we relax we invite ruin upon ourselves.  Did Jesus ever tell his disciples to relax?  NO!  Relaxing is synonymous with lowering your guard, becoming careless, the justification of inactivity.  This is spiritual suicide.  When a warrior relaxes his hand on the hilt of his sword it can be easily knocked from his hand.  If a watchman relaxes his guard he will become distracted or maybe fall asleep.  Relaxing gives opportunity for Satan to overpower us.  The devil wants us to take it easy and relax concerning obedience, holiness, and actively seeking God with our whole hearts.

If you were to "rest," in our modern vernacular we have the sense of doing something mindless, taking a nap, or putting our feet up.  When the Bible speaks about resting, it is faith in action.  It is an inner repose that comes from knowing who God is, and who are are in Him.  It is Christ who gives us rest for our souls.  We can be laboring in a garden or on a jobsite and still be at rest.  This resting occurs when our faith (active reliance) is consciously placed upon God.  We can remain at rest even during trials because our lives have been founded on the foundation of Christ.

Jeremiah 6:16 says, "Thus says the Lord:  "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.  But they said, 'We will not walk in it."  This "rest" is found.  It will not be found accidentally, but only when you look, ask, and walk in it.  It does not come to you when you are spiritually lazy or complacent.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  It is through Him we find rest.  Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-29:  "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] 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."  The rest Christ provides must also be received intentionally.  Once He shows us the path of holiness, we have a responsibility to rest in Christ so we might be empowered to follow Him.

Are you at rest today, or are you only relaxed?  One is a blessing, and one is a curse disguised as blessing.  There is rest in Christ if you will seek Him with your whole heart.  Don't be satisfied with relaxation when God has provided rest in His own Son!  It's no holiday following Jesus, but eternal life in the presence of God is better than anything!  1 Thes. 5:5-10 entreats, "You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. [6] Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. [7] For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. [8] But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. [9] For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, [10] who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."