He Restores My Soul

"Tired.”

I like to ask people how they’re doing. Sometimes they’ll give non-answers like, “good” or “great.”

But if I ever get a real answer out of someone, 9 times out of 10, it’s that they’re “tired.”

I get it. I’m tired too. I took a two hour nap this afternoon.

Worse than tired, we’re stressed. Stress kills. 53% of medical issues reported are rooted in stress.

This is not how God made us to be. So why am I tired?

Maybe it’s because we don’t understand the Gospel. In our individualistic, intellectual culture, we think that the Gospel is a behavior. Spirituality is something you do. And the busier, or “more involved,” you are as a Christian, the more spiritual you must be.

And we wonder why pastors burn out.

So is this it? Were we made to be tired?

I don’t think so. The Gospel is many things. It promises a mysterious identity, which it likes to call “life eternal.” There’s a whole lot more than that than just living forever. More importantly, if the Gospel tells us to live eternally, then eternity starts now.

So what is the Gospel?

The Gospel is many things. It’s the Sabbath God commands the Israelites to take every 7 days. The Gospel is the rest we are to take when we receive the Inheritance, the Promise Land, the Kingdom. It’s the year of Jubilee promised to Israel, and fulfilled in Jesus’ presence in Luke 4:16-21. The Good News is Psalm 23.

So what is the Gospel? The Gospel is Rest.

That Rest starts now.

So why am I tired?

Because the Gospel is not something you do, it’s someone you are.

The Gospel is living in the presence of God.

And it’s so… calm…

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

 


-------------------

Ben Michaels 



is a Junior at Ozark Christian College studying preaching and church planting.  He blogs at A Rainy Day in Switzerland frequently and considers himself a coffee addict who loves to tell stories. When he was little, he had a dream to become a garbage man, because he thought they only worked one day a week.