New York has been known for decades as \u201cthe city that never sleeps.\u201d Twenty-four-hour diners, cafes, and bodegas are commonplace. At any hour of the night, I can walk down to my corner bodega and order a bacon, egg, and cheese on a roll, and no one would even bat an eye at the time. Sometimes I see this as a luxury\u2014I can have anything! At any time! But other times, I realize that it\u2019s no wonder we\u2019re all so exhausted all the time. New Yorkers just don\u2019t get much sleep, and we hardly ever truly rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether you live in the city that never sleeps, a sweet, sleepy suburb, or somewhere in between, rest can be hard to come by. In a culture where who you are is so often seen as dependent on what you do, we often run ourselves ragged trying to prove that we\u2019re good enough. We push and push and push, striving for the next paycheck, the next promotion, or the next benchmark of what we think our lives should look like. When someone asks us how we\u2019re doing, we say, \u201cBusy, but good!\u201d Busyness is seen as a sort of badge of honor. Add in holiday craziness to already jam-packed schedules and by January 1, we\u2019re walking around with dazed looks on our faces, unsure what day of the week it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our culture might promote this hustle lifestyle, but Christ calls us to a different way of living. He calls us to true rest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the beauty of this rest is that it\u2019s not something that we have to strive for. We\u2019re not working for the weekends when it comes to the rest that Christ offers. Jesus says in Matthew 11, \u201cCome to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.\u201d All we have to do to get this rest is simply come to Him. He gives us this rest because He is the rest for our souls. We find true rest when we find ourselves rooted and established in him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rest provided to us in Christ gives us cause for joy, for celebration. We find joy in Christ\u2019s rest because we finally can lay down the burdens we\u2019ve been carrying and delight in His presence. We can dwell with Him in the house of the Lord. No more striving, no more running ourselves ragged. When we slow down and bask in his presence, we find that true rest isn\u2019t dependent on our performance or persistence at all. It\u2019s only dependent on the person of Jesus Christ. All we have to do is sit with Him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New York has been known for decades as \u201cthe city that never sleeps.\u201d Twenty-four-hour diners, cafes, and bodegas are commonplace. At any hour of the night, I can walk down to my corner bodega and order a bacon, egg, and cheese on a roll, and no one would even bat an eye at the time. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":71562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent2024"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[71574],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"JOY THROUGH REST<\/b>
\r\nby Ellen Taylor<\/i>
\r\n
New York has been known for decades as \u201cthe city that never sleeps.\u201d Twenty-four-hour diners, cafes, and bodegas are commonplace. At any hour of the night, I can walk down to my corner bodega and order a bacon, egg, and cheese on a roll, and no one would even bat an eye at the time. Sometimes I see this as a luxury\u2014I can have anything! At any time! But other times, I realize that it\u2019s no wonder we\u2019re all so exhausted all the time. New Yorkers just don\u2019t get much sleep, and we hardly ever truly rest.<\/p>
\r\n
Whether you live in the city that never sleeps, a sweet, sleepy suburb, or somewhere in between, rest can be hard to come by. In a culture where who you are is so often seen as dependent on what you do, we often run ourselves ragged trying to prove that we\u2019re good enough. We push and push and push, striving for the next paycheck, the next promotion, or the next benchmark of what we think our lives should look like. When someone asks us how we\u2019re doing, we say, \u201cBusy, but good!\u201d Busyness is seen as a sort of badge of honor. Add in holiday craziness to already jam-packed schedules and by January 1, we\u2019re walking around with dazed looks on our faces, unsure what day of the week it is.<\/p>
\r\n
Our culture might promote this hustle lifestyle, but Christ calls us to a different way of living. He calls us to true rest.<\/p>
\r\n
But the beauty of this rest is that it\u2019s not something that we have to strive for. We\u2019re not working for the weekends when it comes to the rest that Christ offers. Jesus says in Matthew 11, \u201cCome to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.\u201d All we have to do to get this rest is simply come to Him. He gives us this rest because He is the rest for our souls. We find true rest when we find ourselves rooted and established in him.<\/p>
\r\n
The rest provided to us in Christ gives us cause for joy, for celebration. We find joy in Christ\u2019s rest because we finally can lay down the burdens we\u2019ve been carrying and delight in His presence. We can dwell with Him in the house of the Lord. No more striving, no more running ourselves ragged. When we slow down and bask in his presence, we find that true rest isn\u2019t dependent on our performance or persistence at all. It\u2019s only dependent on the person of Jesus Christ. All we have to do is sit with Him.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"19","scripture":"Isaiah 40:28-31, Psalm 23:1-6, Matthew 11:25-30, Mark 6:30-31, Revelation 14:13","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}