REST – Part 2

Read Part 1 HERE

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”.

Matthew 11:28-29 (NKJV)

From the first part of the REST series, we get to understand that rest is a triumph God promised man after THE FALL.

Mankind had become slaves to sin and were displeasing God but because of His never-ending love and mercy, He sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to come and release us from this bondage which leads to death (eternal condemnation).

Now, being released from the power of the enemy, we must find rest for our souls. Jesus said in the verse 28 of the above scripture that if we come unto Him, He will give us rest. However, in the verse 29, He says we should learn from Him and we will find rest unto our souls. This reveals that though Christ has released us from the influence of the powers of this world, it is up to us to find rest for our souls. Salvation does not end after we receive Christ Jesus into our lives. It is just the beginning of a lifelong process. Christ coming into our lives births a new spirit in us, pure and free from the bondage of sin, but it is up to us to walk into the transformation of our souls.

This world has inculcated so many desires into our souls. Though we have received Christ, we keep craving for the things of the world. Andy Murray, a preacher of the Word proposed a law about human nature; He said, “Acts produce Habits, Habits breed Dispositions, Dispositions form the will and the rightly formed will is Character”. This teaches us that the acts we indulged in have formed a will and have birth a character within us that craves the things of this world. For our souls to receive rest, we need to “drop” our old character (self) and create a new one.

Dropping our old character is not easy. Many people receive Christ but because of the character they formed in their old selves, they are unable to live to please God. They attend church services and indulge in many Christian practices but some secret sins and faults make then unable to please God. They allow the power they were freed from to continue to dominate their lives. The thing is, we fail to recognize that knowing and accepting Christ gives us all that we need that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Believing and accepting Him gives us the power to form a new self which is unto the nature of Christ. Christians need to reckon that they have the power to live a godly life that pleases God.

Having dropped our former character, we need to form a new one in us which is concurrent with the will of God. Forming this new character is by doing the word of God. We need to act on the word of God always to form a habit of pleasing God. This will ensure that we are always positioned to do His will. Conforming to His will always will be a new character formed in us. At that stage, God’s desire becomes our desire and His will becomes our will. This correctly formed will is the new self we need to receive rest for our souls.

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 By Samuel Entsua ©2014-2015 Christ for Humanity Outreach 

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