“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened. You will find rest. My yoke is easy.”–Matthew 11:28-30
In the midst of our crazy, chaotic world, finding rest, let alone peace can be a major accomplishment, particularly since our world tends to think that “being at rest”, or “being peaceful” is completely unproductive and a waste of time.
In fact, although the world tends to perceive the practicing of one’s faith in God as restrictive of one’s freedom and onerously burdensome, so therefore not a restful or peaceful way of living, the reality is actually far different.
“Coming to Jesus is the condition for finding relief. All we need to do is choose to enter the spirit of His presence, and the unnatural pressures blown down upon us by both the world and ourselves begin to dissipate…The toil of living, abstracted from the compassionate power of God, only bears fruits of dejection and despair…”
–Erasmo Leiba-Merikakis
Simply put, relying upon Jesus and following His Way of discipleship is actually the best way to find rest and peace. Because to the extent that we are far from Jesus, that is the extent that we will find ourselves ruled by our passions and susceptible to the pressures of the world and the influence of the Evil One.
When we allow Jesus’ love to enter and burn in our hearts, we find ourselves freed from our addictions and transformed. Jesus’ name means “Savior”, and is by definition the source of relief from any chains that either have been imposed by ourselves or others. Any time that we turn to Jesus, we actually open ourselves up to transformative rest and authentic peace.
So have you found peace today?
I pray that you do, and hope to see you on the Way tomorrow.
