Rest

October 15, 2015

Rest

God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.

1 Corinthians 1:30

As you read this verse, let its truth sink deeply within your spirit. Jesus made you right with God. Jesus made you pure and holy. Jesus freed you from sin. This Jesus is in you, your hope of glory! (Colossians 1:27) After you shout

H a l l e l u j a h,

and catch your breath, what is the first word that you think of in response to the truth of this verse? For me the word is rest, and I immediately think of Psalm 46:10a, ““Be still, and know that I am God!”

A few days ago, I noted that Jesus is our way, Jesus is the truth, and Jesus is our life. Hear again the wonder of today’s verse: Jesus made you right with God. Jesus made you pure and holy. Jesus freed you from sin! Our Abba Father wants us to take a leap of faith, and believe this truth with every fiber of our being. When we do, we will rest in the assurance of God’s unfailing love for us. We will rest in the assurance that His mercies never come to an end, but are new every morning! We will rest in the assurance of our true identity as the beloved children of God, with whom He is delighted, and with whom His favor rests.

This rest, this being still, is not an invitation for me to plop down in my La-z-boy recliner, with Hershey in my lap, and zombie out with a marathon of NCIS reruns. This rest, this being still, is an invitation to be fully engaged as a co-laborer with Christ, building for his Kingdom, with the sublime attitude that I don’t have to labor, I get to labor. Learning to live our lives in response to God’s grace, as opposed to trying to earn His favor, is God’s prescription for rest.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.