Rest: God's Growth Hormone

A brother was commenting on the advice he'd given his teenage son to put aside his worldly music before going to bed for the night, and instead read his Bible. He told him, "The body needs rest at night to grow."

Immediately I got a Holy Spirit flash that what is true in the natural is true in the spiritual. Therefore if we rest in God and the truth of His word it will cause our spiritual man to grow. And as we grow, so does the whole body of Messiah. "For the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love" (Eph. 4:15,16).

But the key is rest."There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience [as those in the wilderness].For the word of God is living and sharper than any two-edged sword." (Heb. 4:8-12).

In other words, God commands us to cease from all our labors and enter into His Sabbath rest. He is not speaking here of the 24-hour Sabbath rest of the Old Covenant,but our resting in Jesus and His covenant promises 24/7. And the work we are to rest from is not our physical labor, but all the dead works of the flesh in which we try to continue to earn a salvation that has already been freely given to us. Or to secure ourselves in this world after we've been told to "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness [through faith], and all these things [food, clothing, shelter, security] would be added to you" (Matt. 6:33).

If we sense we are not growing in the Lord as we should, maybe it's time to check how well we are resting. Are we exhausting ourselves running to church, and doing good things to make the world a better place to live? Are we working feverishly to pay our bills and provide for our family, instead of committing our financial, emotional, and physical well-being into the hands of the One who has promised to meet all our needs "according to His riches in Messiah Jesus" (Phil 4:19).

If we see we are not where we want to be, Jesus bids us to lay it all down and, "Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will GIVE YOU REST" (Matt. 11:28).

Like everything else with Jesus, His rest is a gift, also. And His rest is the growth hormone we need to develop spiritual muscles and grow strong in the Lord.