Hi how are you all today? I am well and still on my holiday in the middle of the ocean. We are heading towards our home port. It has been relaxing but full of drama, thankfully nothing related to me. We have missed two stops and had three medical emergencies. All you can do at these times is trust God that He has a better plan.
Part of the verses in Matthew 11:28 to 30 in the Message Bible have the phrase in it – the unforced rhythms of grace. This phrase has touched me in the past week and I want to explore it further. The whole of those verses read:
28-30 “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.”
This passage is speaking to us on the solution most of us are feeling today – tired. Our world is so stressful. We live our lives mostly on others’ timetables. For example, our work timetable, the public transport timetable, the school timetable, the shops’ timetable etc. All of the timetables are making us rushed and weary.
But the phrase “the unforced rhythms of grace” speak to us about a different perspective and timetable. It is a calling to draw near to Jesus and find rest. But it is more than that. We can go to Jesus and find rest today but what about tomorrow. Others’ timetables will still be there to dictate to us.
Let’s look at the bit before this phrase in Matthew 11. Jesus said that not only were we to come to Him to recover from the busyness and find rest, but that He will show us how to continue in the rest He provides.
Rest does not mean sleeping all day or spending your days on the couch in front of the television. How do I know that? Easy, by keeping reading that passage. Jesus then told us to walk with Him, work with Him and watch how He does it. But, how you say, Jesus doesn’t physically walk beside us? That’s true. We need to read the gospels and see what He did.
In John 12:49 in the Message, part of that verse reads: “The Father who sent me gave me orders, told me what to say and how to say it”.
This is how Jesus showed us how to live in the unforced rhythms of grace is to find out from God what He wants us to do (working at a job, managing your house or going to school is part of that) , what He wants us to say, the words to use and the people He wants us to speak to.
Jesus did a lot in His 3 1/2 years of ministry but He was never rushed. He didn’t go from one miracle to the next. He had time to preach, teach, heal etc, spend time with His father and eat. Yes – He did get tired but Jesus lived in those unforced rhythms of grace. He knew what to do and how to do it. He knew who to heal and who to speak to.
Today, in our lives, let’s consider Jesus’ example for us and learn to live in those unforced rhythms of grace. Go to the Father and recover from your busyness then let it go and learn to live a different way.
This applies to me too. So this week let’s learn from Jesus, evaluate our priorities ensuring they are from God and learn to walk in the phrase that’s the title of this blog.
Your priorities will change and so will your life. This is how you live the life God intended for you.
Bless you
Karen
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