God's Best-Kept SecretSample

How to Rest

To rest means to stop working completely. And the only way to experience the spiritual rest we have in Christ is to stop working or performing for God’s acceptance, because we know we are righteous in Christ. Until we do, we are deceived by a works-based righteousness. Most who do this are not working to get into heaven but are working to get God to love them, accept them, bless them, and use them more. The problem is that you never know when you’ve done enough, so you can never rest.

The only way to rest is to believe you are righteous. Only by doing that will you believe God accepts you because you are acceptable. That is what it means to enter into God’s rest. It’s to rest in the reality that you are righteous in Christ.

Do you read your Bible and pray so you can find inner rest? Do you serve God so you can rest? Do you obey God so you can rest? Do you attend church so you can find rest? I definitely encourage you to do those things, but from a place of rest, not to be at rest.

Jesus has done everything you and I need to be righteous and unconditionally accepted. In fact, he is our righteousness and more, according to 1 Corinthians 1:30: “By His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (NASB). This truth helps my emotions calm down on the inside as I’m reminded that Jesus is my ultimate place of rest.

Let me say it again. The only way to rest is to believe that regardless of whether you feel righteous or have been behaving righteously, God has made you righteous and that is your true identity in Christ. Knowing you are righteous tells you that you are acceptable to God all day, every day. So relax. Rest in Christ and then let him live through you to do his work. It’s one aspect of God’s best-kept secret, for true inner rest.

Today, when you start to feel anxious or flustered and feel like you need to ramp up your performance to deserve God’s approval, remind yourself that you are already righteous and accepted. Rest in Jesus.