Come on, you know there are times where you do it, too. You keep trying to do one more thing for God as if He needs you. The good news is, He doesn’t. He wants you. He loves you and His desire is that you know Him and draw close to Him. Does that mean we shouldn’t desire to serve Him? No, but He wants us to serve Him with joy and love not pressure. He’s not a task master, He’s a loving Father and sometimes He just wants us to slow down and rest in His presence. Remember Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Too often I drive myself to distraction, trying to do one more thing “for Jesus.” Eventually it’s stops being about Jesus and starts to be about fulfilling some need in me to be important or something. Maybe you’ve been there too. Here’s what I’m trying to learn. I’m not important because of what I can do. That’s called pride. I’m important because God loves me and He showed my importance by giving His Son for me. (Needless to say it’s the same for you.) If we’re important it’s because we’re important to God. Do we have a mission? Yes! Should we serve God well and give Him our best? Absolutely! But don’t lose what’s really important, what He desires is a close, loving relationship with His children. When we try to earn His love, it paints an untrue picture of who He is and drives a wedge in the very relationship He gave Jesus to preserve.
Maybe it’s time you rested?
Lindsay McCaul is a new artist I had the pleasure of seeing on the Casting Crowns tour last week. When she played this song tears came to my eyes. It’scalled Come Rest. My tears left me know it was an invitation for me.
How about you?
Here are the lyrics
Busy, busy me, full of self-sufficiency
I have tried so fervently to earn Your love
But any joy that I once found is wearing off, is winding down
And I can hear You in the madness calling out
When You say come, rest -should I be working so hard
When You say love, rest -did You want hands or my heart
‘Cause I have done my best and still I miss the mark
But I remember You said its done
So I come
So convinced that it was right, adding weight to what was light
Seeking value in Your sight, but I was wrong
For all the labor I have done is but a candle to the sun
And I can see that it would never measure up
When You say come, rest -should I be working so hard
When You say love, rest -did You want hands or my heart
‘Cause I have done my best and still I miss the mark
But I remember You said its done
So I…
Come to the water’s edge
I rest in Your promises
That all You ever wanted was me here
And if there’s nothing left that I can do
To earn the love I need from You
Then all that’s left to want is to be near
So I come…when You say come…
