06/16/2026
Rest is not easy. It requires effort.
What?!
Jesus bids us to rest, and yet Hebrews tells us:
"Let us, then, make every effort to enter that rest..." (Hebrews 4:11).
At first glance, that sounds contradictory. How can rest require effort?
The answer is found in what kind of rest Hebrews is talking about.
The primary rest in this passage is salvation. We cannot earn God's favor through our own works, yet we often try. We strive to be good enough, do enough, prove enough, and accomplish enough. But salvation is found only when we stop trusting in ourselves and place our faith in Christ.
The effort is not earning salvation.
It is surrendering our attempts to earn it.
The effort is believing.
The writer of Hebrews points back to Israel. An entire generation missed entering God's rest because of unbelief. Their problem was not a lack of activity; it was a lack of faith.
And if we're honest, we can fall into a similar pattern.
While we may know we are saved by grace, we can still live as though everything depends on us. We strive, push, perform, and carry burdens God never asked us to carry.
But the same faith that receives salvation is the faith that sustains us every day.
We enter God's rest when we stop striving to earn His love.
And we continue in God's rest when we stop striving to control our lives.
Lately, God has been teaching me this lesson in a fresh way.
There have been seasons when ministry was full and yet felt light because His grace carried the weight. Then there have been seasons when He has asked me to slow down, receive, and be refreshed.
I don't always like those seasons.
Part of me wants to prove I can still do more.
But resting in God means laying down the false guilt that says I must always produce more, accomplish more, or carry more.
Faith receives salvation with open hands.
Faith also receives God's daily grace with open hands.
Rest is not easy.
Because surrender rarely is.
