We All Need a Break

We all need a break sometimes. Katelyn, Nicholas, and I just took a trip up to Missouri and Wisconsin. We had a nice break. A break from work. With the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins around, we got a break from watching Nicholas for a little while. We got a break from city life, too. And, that's just what we needed to return to our normal God-given roles.

Whether it's a family vacation, a couple of days off of work, a night out with the boys, a girl's trip, or a campout, we all need a break from the routine. We need that time to rest and refocus so we can continue on doing whatever we do.

What about a break from God's Word? We take a break from almost everything else. Why not this, too? Well, that would be a little backward. It's like the ironic saying, "I need a vacation from my vacation."

You see, hearing God's Word isn't work. It's rest. Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." King David describes the rest God gives us in Psalm 23, " The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake."

God sent his Son Jesus to give us rest. The work we do, at work, at home, wherever, is hard because of sin. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God told Adam, " “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food" (Genesis 3:17-19). The problems, the stresses, the worries of our work come because of the sin around us and the sin in us.

Jesus came to give us rest from sin. He would not rest until he finished his Father's work. To keep all of God's commands for you. To die on the cross to defeat sin. He did not rest until he rested his head in the tomb. Then, it was finished.

Because of this, Jesus now promises you rest forever. He rose from the dead. He rose into heaven. He will come back to raise your body resting in the ground and will raise you to heaven to rest with him forever in eternal glory.

The Holy Spirit gives us this rest now again and again through the Word. We don't want a break from God's Word. God's Word is our break. In the middle of work, of home life, even of vacation, God gives us a break from sin and stress through rest in your Savior.