“For as long, then, as that promise of resting in him pulls us on to God’s goal for us, we need to be careful that we’re not disqualified. We received the same promises as those people in the wilderness, but the promises didn’t do them a bit of good because they didn’t receive the promises with faith.“ — Hebrews 4:1-2

“The promise of ‘arrival’ and ‘rest’ is still there for God’s people. God himself is at rest. And at the end of the journey, we’ll surely rest with God.” — Hebrews 4:9-11

Oh, what a breath of fresh air the above words are to this tired old soul … Rest!

I dumped religion in my early 20s because all I was getting out of it was a sense of being pressured to “do, do, do;” Do the liturgy, do the rules, do the behaving, do the holy days, etc.

All this just to secure and maintain my position with a God who seemed to be always hiding among drafty buildings, ornate trappings, clouds of incense and mysterious proceedings.

It wasn’t until years later that I was introduced to the Bible through friends. Then I heard the scripture’s crystal-clear message of salvation that screamed from the housetops that we can give up our “do, do doing” and rest securely in what Christ has already “done, done, done” for us.

All that anyone (including a lifelong felon/thief hanging on a cross next to Christ) needs to reach Heaven has been accomplished in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.

Believe that with all your heart, “… and at the end of the journey, you’ll surely rest with God.”

Like a divine wind, the truth penetrates to the bone.

In my book, My Origin, My Destiny, I told this true story, “His shoulders were slumped forward, clenched fists on his knees, when it hit him. Like a divine wind, the truth penetrated his carefully prepared religious defenses. My friend, Dave, was powerless to resist the simplicity, elegance and disarming character of the argument. He would never be the same again.

“Up to this point, Dave had believed that he had to hang on to his denominational religion for dear life and that, to make it, he had to fulfill its requirements. The resultant agonizing conflict between knowing what he should be doing versus his almost total inability to do it left him exhausted, confused and wracked with guilt.

“He asked me over and over, ‘What do I have to do?’ Raising his voice in frustration, he said, ‘Just tell me the things I must do to be saved!’ My answer exasperated him further, ‘There is nothing you can do, nothing at all. It’s been done for you by someone else.’

“It seemed too simplistic, and he struggled to make sense of it. That’s when the insight came crashing into his consciousness like lightning. His shoulders came up, his fists turned into upturned hands, and tears welled up in his eyes. He could only surrender to this divine wind and welcome its cleansing flow into his mind, body and spirit. The ecstasy, the relief, the joy that followed lit him up.

“Finally, he got it — that his lifelong struggle for acceptance and peace with God had nothing to do with anything he did, whether good or bad. It was about God and what God did. And, better yet, the thing that God did was comprehensive, forever finished, and freely available to anyone courageous enough to reach out and take (believe) it.

“Dave left my home that day spiritually ‘lighter’ and filled with a settled inner peace that was to characterize him from that day forward. Those universe-altering words cried out by Christ from the cross, ‘It is finished,’ had profoundly altered his life, and Dave has never looked back. Millions more could say the same.”

Word of God

In Romans 1:16-17, the Bible boldly states that God exists, He has spoken, and the Bible is his message system.

At the heart of God’s message to mankind is the Gospel.

The Apostle Paul asserted, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”

The Gospel sets forth the no-frills truth about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I started out believing that it was presumptuous to know my standing with God — after all, wasn’t that supposed to be up to Him after he weighs my life in the balance?

Yet, in 1 John 5:12-14, the Apostle John clearly stated:

“He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

How About You?

So now, if our only “job” is to believe this gospel with all our heart and rest the full weight of our faith upon it, have you done this?

4-1-1

Click here for a fascinating AI-generated audio overview of this essay.