Finding Rest in The Lord

Matthew 11: 28-30 “28Come to me and I will give you rest. 29Take my yolk upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yolk is easy and my burden is light.”

Whenever I was preparing to take one of my belt exams, I would practice and train constantly. Regardless if I was in the dojo or not, you would see me review new and previous content for my up-and-coming exam (I would even find time to practice at school, work, and other places). I would practice so much that I would be exhausted during my belt exam. Because I did not take the time to rest, I did not perform as well as I thought I would have.

Yes, it is great to practice and train on a daily basis. I think that is a great way to become a great martial artist. However, having time to rest is one of the most important aspects that we tend to skip. Without resting our bodies after much kata, waza, and sparring training, the body cannot heal itself. Actually, when you rest your muscles and ligaments after a hard workout, they will become stronger. However, if we carry on with our training without any rest, then we can really hurt our muscles and other parts of our body.

In our spiritual life, we cannot provide our own source of rest. We have the devil that is constantly trying to take us away from salvation. Whenever we take the chance to put our guard down and rest from our spiritual journey, the devil has the chance to take us away. Because of our sin, we always have to be fighting, which can be hard on us. Thanks be to God, though, for having a Son that we can rest upon. This spiritual journey is not an easy task, but Jesus tells us that we can find rest in Him, according to Matthew 11:28, “Come to me and I will give you rest”. Because He was able to conquer sin, death, and the devil, we can rest upon Him and give everything to Him, knowing that He will protect us from the Devil. We also know that with faith in Jesus Christ, we can have the eternal rest in the Kingdom of Heaven, which all of us long for. So, Keep training and keep going, but don’t forget to find time to rest.