July 7th, 21

How tired are you? Are you tired enough to get some rest? Are you still working, striving, working up a sweat? Let me encourage you, let me implore you to get some rest. Today, if you hear his voice, and you're tired, and you're thirsty and weary, then today you need to get some rest. Don't harden yourself, you're tired, because you're trying to do it on your own. You're tired because your strength is small, and you're still trying to be in control. The Gospel means rest. God's promise of entering his rest still stands. This rest is equated with the good news. This is the gospel, the gospel essentially means resting in him. If we fail to rest, then we fail to experience the power of the gospel in our life. The writer of Hebrews says that we ought to tremble in fear at the thought of somehow missing it. He's talking to Christians here. Christian, don't miss it. We think that our struggles are so unique, that it depends on us, that our circumstances require us to get in there and fix things that are wrong. So we power up and force our agenda, or, or we turtle up and we run from our circumstances, and we hide from the consequences. But in Hebrews, we learned that we have someone, a high priest that understands our weaknesses. He faced all the same testings we do, and yet he did not sin. We have a high priest who can identify with the temptation to power up or to turtle up. Yet he didn't do either of those things. Instead, he stood up in the power of God. Since we have this high priest with us, now we can come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. So let us come boldly today to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy. And we will find the grace to help us when we need it most. That's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family for my wife, my daughters, my son. And that's the prayer that I have for you may be so

You are loved!