Rest

J.D. Graeer:

All of our souls have a “rest.” Your rest is the place you retreat to, to find happiness or security. When you are under stress, it’s where you find escape. When you are depressed, it’s how you pick yourself up. It’s that thing your mind wanders to, to delight in, when it idles.

It might be a possession you own. It might be something about yourself, or some dream you have. You might find escape from pressure by indulging in pornography. You may escape through your boyfriend.  It might be drinking. Your soul has a refuge, a rest, a trust.

If that rest is anything but God, it will bring bad fruit from your life. You’ll get obsessive and addictive. You’ll be in a bad mood and lash out at others.

If your rest is God, God will bring good fruit from your rest. You’ll be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, self control, etc. These things are the fruit of the Spirit. They come from resting in God. Resting in anything else but God produces the opposite of these fruits–instead of joy, worry; instead of love, selfishness; instead of gentleness, harshness, etc.

Where does your soul find rest? Do you escape by overwork? Do you have some secret fantasy life that you find delight in to escape the toil of life?

I’ve been in a particularly stressful time of life recently, and God has used this to show me that my “rest” is many things besides God. He has shown me that He is the only reliable refuge and strength and that resting in Him produces the wonderful fruits of the Spirit in my life.

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