Rest. A Most Beautiful Invitation.

​One in three adults do not get enough sleep. The results - insufficient sleep is linked to chronic conditions such as heart disease, obesity, depression, and diabetes.

Seventy percent of adolescents don't get enough sleep. The results - sleep deprivation among teens is associated with increased risk of depression, poor academic performance, and accidents.

Why is it that we have a hard time sleeping, or, that we don't see it as important? Why is it that we see the burdens we carry as medals of honor that are somehow diminished if we give them rest.

In the Genesis narrative of the bible, when God created heaven and earth and all that belonged to it, he blessed three things.

He blessed the animals, he blessed humans, and he blessed rest.

“Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” The first thing God calls holy is not a place or a person, but a period of rest. It shows that rest is not just a pause in productivity—it is sacred and life-giving.

It was not just a blessing, it was a mandate to seek rest. Our bodies are literally wired to need it; we cannot survive without sleep. At the end of each day our bodies literally try to force rest upon us.

The God who blessed rest created us in bodies that crave it.

Yet, culturally, rest is often equated with laziness, especially in high-performance or “grind” environments. Hardly holy. This social pressure leads people to sacrifice rest for productivity, even though rest actually increases long-term productivity and creativity.

Jesus once offered an invitation to rest. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

You read that, I suppose, and maybe it doesn't sound like rest. Jesus is asking us to be yoked to him and his burden, even if light. Well maybe I don't want yoke and burden, I just want all that robs me of rest to disappear.

But the truth is, we are all yoking ourselves to something in search of escaping our burdens, of seeking rest from them.

We yoke to the substances.

We yoke to unhealthy relationships.

We yoke to compulsive shopping and buying.

We yoke to things that in the long run add to burden and not subtract from it.

So many times my turning down an invitation to be yoked to Jesus looks like me being yoked to something else. It's not that I'm turning down the invitation to be yoked, I'm just accepting it elsewhere.

(Wow, writing that, I'm not sure anything better summarizes my life of burden).

The beautiful thing about Jesus, though, he never rescinds that invitation. He will watch us go to every other party on the block, he will watch us go knowing that those parties are not in our best interest, and yet, answer the door when we decide to finally attend his.

In Hebrews, the bible tells us, “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest…”

God’s invitation to rest is never revoked. It didn’t end in Genesis. It wasn’t only for the Israelites in the wilderness. And it’s not just about physical rest—it’s about soul-level rest that comes from trusting, not striving.

Trusting, not striving.

Sleeping, not plowing ahead.

What does accepting this invitation to be yoked to Jesus really look like, practically, things you and I can do each day?

Before grabbing your phone or your to-do list in the morning, utter these words: “Jesus, today I don’t have to carry what you’ve already promised to carry. Help me walk with you, not ahead of you.”

Let go of the idea that rest is a reward for doing enough. With Jesus rest is not a reward, its a reminder that you are already loved, no matter what your boss or Instagram followers say.

Rest in Jesus means resisting the pressure to please the masses at the expense of your own rest.

Sprinkle reminders to rest throughout your day - because life is always begging us to forget the importance of rest: a verse on your mirror, a post-it on your laptop that says, "I am not in this alone", listen to Elevation Worship music on the drive home (a personal favorite approach for me).

It's sometimes hard to imagine that Jesus can bring us the kind of rest we are so desperately seeking from our burdens. But then again, what isn't hard to imagine, at least not for me, is the self-destruction that often comes when I seek that rest elsewhere.

Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

What a beautiful invitation.

Rest.