Rest Today

“…through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.”

– Romans 5:18

The Psalmist wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:1-3). These are the words of a comforted soul amid great trial. Newness of life did not surround him in the circumstances; it indwelled his very soul. It was not around him but in him. This sweet poet learned to live daily with these peaceful concepts.

Many born-again Christians never really begin to walk with joy through this newness of life we have been given. It is as if we walk in this world with a constant cloud above us, with occasional glimpses of sunshine when it should be the other way around. If the Lord is the only light ever needed in heaven, and believers are already promised to be with the Lord there, should not our very hearts be warmed with the light of this truth here (Revelation 21:23; John 14:1-3)? And yet it seems that many believers rarely experience this inner peace. Many live in constant apprehension and fear of making mistakes and being out of God’s will. Or, we live in constant fear of being judged for past sins. Many of us live with constant guilt and little internal rest.

We live so much of our lives in our minds that our sin over the years is internal. We tend to take that thought life and the sins of it and pile them up over the years in our minds. Because we know who we are inside, we have the propensity to live internally in constant condemnation of ourselves. And we do this long after God has forgiven and forgotten all of our sins. We are then pre-occupied with our sins and weaknesses, which means we are not pre-occupied with Jesus and His death on the cross for those sins.

Let us, today, embrace our Lord. Let us not miss out on the blessings of a full-fledged relationship with Jesus, His power, and His strength over sin and death. Let us embrace the fullness of His sacrifice and the beauty of the cross so we may always lie down in green pastures and walk beside still waters. If we seek God first, these mercies follow.

“Every man loves the mercies of God, but a saint loves the God of his mercies.”

– John Flavel