Learning to rest in Jesus

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I love my job. Well, most of the time. But I really do. Ministry is such a privilege. And yet, it also has real dangers when it comes to overwork. When is your work done? When have you loved people enough? When does nobody require follow up or prayer? When can you ever say you’ve fully completed all your goals? 

Well, the combination of love for my job, and the “you can always do more” nature of ministry have meant that giving careful thought to rest has been necessary for me. Here are 4 discoveries I’ve made about rest that I hope will be helpful as you seek to lead from a place of rest:

1. Resting well has required intentionality

Trying to figure out strategies to rest might seem an ironic task to give oneself to, but I didn’t know how to rest, and therefore much of my downtime wasn’t restorative, but wasted. I would disengage from work, but find that I was simply distracting myself from work, rather than having my heart refreshed in God and energised for what lay ahead. 

Surfing the news online and reading about current events took my mind far away from the troubles of the day, but did not restore my soul in any substantive way. I needed to think through what it looked like to rest properly so that my heart was renewed, and how to enable that to happen.

     2. Resting well primarily turned out to be an issue of faith in God

What has driven much of my restlessness has been overemphasizing how crucial I am to God’s purposes, and minimizing God’s work in building His church. New eyes of faith allowed me to see more clearly than I could discern with my physical senses. Faith is agreeing with God that “Unless the Lord builds the house the Labourers labour in vain” (Ps 127 v1). 

Simply “believing in God” has enabled me to put down my laptop and phone and entrust tasks, people, and the future into the hands of my Father. But this has not been easy - just like tithing is an act of trusting God, so is taking a sabbath. Both involve a conscious limitation of our resources (money, time) because we trust God above our own resources and labours. And this conscious limitation requires active, ongoing faith in God. 

     3. Resting well has been strengthened through gratitude to God

Brad East writes “Grace and gratitude belong together like heaven and earth. Grace evokes gratitude like the voice and echo. Gratitude follows grace like thunder [follows] lightning.” Gratitude is not only the correct response to God, but creates contentment in Him that allows our weary souls to rest. Taking time to thank God for His blessings great and small has strengthened my sense of rested-ness in Him.

Gratitude is a fruit of faith because it requires me to take my eyes off myself and place them on the God who is graciously working and providing. Cultivating gratitude both lays the groundwork for my rest in God, and strengthens my sense of contentment in Him.

     4. My rejuvenation has been aided by experiencing beauty

Tim Keller is reported to have said "We are exposed to so much brokenness in the city, we must constantly expose our hearts and minds to beauty." Beauty lifts our hearts from our sometimes frustrating tasks, and evokes wonder and delight in God. My rest has been aided by slow walks through nature, taking the time to stare at leaves and lakes (ok, reservoirs!), listening to beautiful music, enjoying art, and marvelling at sunsets. These experiences of beauty draw my heart to meditate on what is true and beautiful about this world, and increase a sense of longing for that final day of rest that we will all enter into. 

Ultimately, all of these discoveries lead me to deeper rest in Jesus, the One who invites me to come to Him in order to find rest for my soul (Matt 11 v28-29). Resting well means intentionally coming to Jesus, having my faith in His perfect work strengthened, responding to His grace with gratitude, and meditating on the beauty of His work and Kingdom to come. 

Happy resting, friends!