“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 The Message (MSG)
I especially love the phrase “unforced rhythms of grace” used in the Message Bible translation.
Definition of unforced. : not forced: such as. a : done or produced naturally or with minimal effort a genuine,
This grace, unmerited favor is not produced by any effort on our part. I don’t have to try and make it happen on my own. I just enter into His rest.
Christ is our true Sabbath rest. This is still a living promise of hope for the people of God today. Hebrews 4:9-11 (MSG) says, “And so this is still a live promise. It wasn’t canceled at the time of Joshua; otherwise, God wouldn’t keep renewing the appointment for “today.” The promise of “arrival” and “rest” is still there for God’s people. God himself is at rest. And at the end of the journey we’ll surely rest with God. So let’s keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some sort of disobedience.’
The Passion Translation (vv. 9-12) renders it this way: “So we conclude that there is still a full and complete “rest” waiting for believers to experience. As we enter into God’s faith-rest life we cease from our own works, just as God celebrates his finished works and rests in them. So then we must give our all and be eager to experience this faith-rest life, so that no one falls short by following the same pattern of doubt and unbelief.
”For we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy, and it pierces more sharply than a two-edged sword. It will even penetrate to the very core of our being where soul and spirit, bone[ and marrow meet
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