A New Perspective on Chilling Out

As I was reading my Bible I came across this very familiar passage

Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."



This is a beautiful and well loved scripture which I am sure most of us learned early on in our walk with the Lord. It is the source of 1Peter 5:7 “Cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you.” It sums up in one short passage the route to all rest and relaxation – how to be satisfied with your lot – how to cope with every day’s problems and worries.



I wanted to delve a little deeper into this so I flicked back through my old emails and Twitter messages til I found this alternative translation from the Message Bible.



Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message)

"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."

Beautiful isn’t it? And so much to the point.



This is what the Lord said to me. “You worry and express concern about all too many things, but, instead of giving them to Me and letting Me deal with them, you keep them and almost encourage them to fester in your own life. As a result, you do start to worry and fret and you leave the door wide open for the enemy to come in and disrupt your peace with all sorts of unnecessary nonsense. Why do you do this when My Word says so clearly to give everything to Me and to let Me deal with them while My Grace carries you peacefully through each and every trap and pitfall of daily living.” He showed me, too, what is meant by that wonderfully evocative phrase, the “unforced rhythms of grace.”



His Grace is all-sufficient. It is sufficient for you. It is sufficient for me. As we grow in His Grace so we learn to give Him more and more and to relax and retain our own peace – also more and more. There is a rhythm to this and it’s rather like being in a boat out on the open sea where the waves pass by with such a regular rhythm. As each wave of trouble heads our way, we are in danger of the wave breaking over us unless we give the wave back to the Lord. That’s when we crest the top and slide gently down the other side waiting for the next wave to head our way. There is clearly a rhythm to this as we find problems and gain release from them. We find a problem and go up with each wave. Then we give it to Jesus and ride the wave gently and easily down again.



So chill out people – learn to use the ‘unforced rhythms of grace’ for yourself and find your peace again. Best thing is to not lose that peace again. Isn’t God’s Word wonderful.