In this devotional I am going to be very candid and straight forward in hopes that you will come to understand as I do that serving God is the most incredible and joyous experience one can ever have on this earth. It took years for me to come to this place of understanding because for years serving God was very hard work that didn’t come with much reward, because at the end of the day I felt I had let Him down somehow. There was always more I could do, more people I could have reached with the Gospel and better ways I could live my Christian life. I would fall into bed each night exhausted from my efforts of trying to please Him. And on days when I felt that I had done a pretty good job my mind would be consumed with thoughts of my own failings and personal flaws.
But then one day I woke up and read Hebrews 4:1. It says, “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.” I sat there and pondered the words of the writer because rest was the last thing I felt in my Christian walk! In fact rest was absent and non-existent in my life! Every day I strived to please God in my thoughts, words, and actions, and every day I tried to be the best Christian who was always leading people to faith in Christ. But in all my doing right, my very being was stripped of rest! I loved God more than anything but serving Him was crippling me. After reading this passage I sought the Lord for wisdom and understanding.
After several months of study and reflection I came to realize what had happened. I had missed the most important meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection for those who believe in Him! His REST! At the moment of my salvation I became a new creation whose hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness! The requirement of me to keep the laws of God or to please God with my good works were done away with and my sins were forgiven; once and for all, for all time! And God does not see me as a wretched sinner, saved by grace. He sees me as a beautiful creation in Him because at the Cross His Son’s blood washed me clean of the filthiness of sin, even before I was saved! And through Jesus’ death and resurrection, I can be rest assured that Christ in me is the hope of glory, not me trying to serve God perfectly through my own efforts and strivings! In these truths there is great joy and rest for the person who comes to understand them! This is where all striving ceases in trying to be the perfect servant of God through religious and self righteous efforts!
As I began to realize that for years I had introduced people to a false doctrine of self works supported by religious living my heart sunk within me! The tapestry of my Christian life began to unravel at a rapid speed as I sat there in the presence of God and repented of my foolish ways. I asked God to show me what His image of me was so that I could understand what David meant when He wrote, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.” (Psalm 51:12-13) As I prayed the Spirit led me to Zephaniah 3:17 and I read, “The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
I sat there in silence as the Spirit of God did a great work in me! As I allowed the self made tapestry of my Christian life to unravel, the Spirit of God reminded me of Romans 8:1-4 that says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Oh the joy that welled up in me as I read passage after passage that day of God’s incredible love for me and His desire for me to acknowledge the work He did in me on the day I believed that He sent His One and Only Son to die on the Cross for me! I began to say “the joy of my salvation” over and over again in my mind! I said, “I have entered His rest and no longer have to strive to serve Him or please Him” and “His Spirit has been given to me and that Spirit is the Spirit of life”! In an instant the heaviness of my soul was lifted as I felt the yoke of slavery to self works and self righteousness lift from my neck and I felt myself being yoked to Jesus and the finished work of the Cross! My heart was filled with gladness and I felt a sense of peace and rest come over me that I had never felt before!
When I walked away from my time with God that day I had a new mind that was filled with the images of the beautiful work God had done in me at the moment of my salvation! This inspired me to serve the Lord in a whole new way that wasn’t burdensome and taxing. And every day as I get to proclaim His love for His people and introduce them to the only One who can save them from death, there is a skip in my step and a joy in my soul and at night when I lay down; I am filled with peace knowing I have finally come to understand what it means to enter His rest.
Is this something you too would like to experience? Have you lost your zeal in serving God because it is too hard because you can’t live up to the standards you have set for yourself in what it means to be a Christian? Do you need the joy of your salvation restored? Do you need to know that God delights in you and sees you in the perfected image of His Son? I want you to know that what I have experienced is available to you if you will take the time to allow Him to unravel the tapestry of your self-made Christian life too and if you will allow Him to introduce you to the truth about who you are as a new creation in Him! If you will do it I can promise you will experience a joy beyond anything you can think or imagine and a rest unlike anything you have ever experienced before!
Prayer: Spend time asking God to reveal any areas of your Christian life that are still wrapped up in self-works or self righteousness. Ask Him to reveal the joy of your salvation by helping you embrace what Christ in you the hope of glory, truly means. Allow Him to rejoice over you with gladness and to reveal the truth about what happened to you when you said yes to a relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ! He is faithful and He will answer you.
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