Dear friend ,
Greetings. I trust your year is going well and that you have had a wonderful January. I was able to get some time off and relax a bit. I have been mulling over the concept of ‘rest’. It was a good many years ago now when I
fully understood the concept of Jesus being our rest. When I was growing up, I had this belief that I was never really good enough for God. I was always failing him and therefore always striving to be good enough, do enough, to please him. I also worried a lot. I worried about almost everything. But slowly (I am a slow learner! lol), as I read more and understood more, I realised that I will never be good enough, and I will never do enough, and that is Ok because, in Jesus, I
am made good enough. Sometimes I just stop and marvel at this. The Lord God of all creation. The God almighty who put the sun moon and stars in their place knew I would never be good enough so in his infinite wisdom and love sent Jesus to die in my place and therefore make a way for me to have eternal fellowship with Him! Matthew 11:28 (NIV) says: 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” That ‘rest’ is not just temporal, physical rest, but the rest from striving to be good enough and do enough. It is the rest that comes from understanding my salivation is in Christ, and Christ alone and that He has done it and I can rest in his unfailing love.
There is a version of the Bible that, I think, translates Matthew 11: 28-30 really well. The Message version says: 28-30 “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.
For me, it underscores the beautiful concept that we are to learn from Jesus, lean on Jesus and love like Jesus. One part of that passage particularly resonates with me “Learn the unforced rhythms of grace”. There is so much in that sentence to meditate on. My fervent prayer for us all, is that as we ‘rest’ in Jesus, we might be vessels of his grace to those around us.
Thank you for your prayer support, your encouragement and your financial support for Reach Beyond. Together, we are making a difference as we use media, health care and community development to reach the unreached with this amazingly good news.
Next month I will report on how things went at Festival One.
Please don’t forget, I would love to come and visit your church, or homegroup. I love telling the stories of lives changed and of all the other wonderful things that are happening here in NZ and around the world as the ministry of Reach Beyond goes beyond borders, beyond words and beyond ourselves.
If you would like to chat with me, please contact me on 021985810 or rgrainger@reachbeyond.org.
Blessings,
Pastor Russell Grainger
CEO, Reach Beyond NZ
Reach Beyond is an international mission organisation with specialised skills in media, healthcare and community development. We’re passionate about reaching the unreached with the Gospel.
© Reach Beyond NZ, 2022