Restless

Papers are flung everywhere: to-do lists, planners, business spreadsheets, three-ring binders, study notes, sermon notes, game and skit ideas for summer camp, and books that I'll never have the time to read...

"This is crazy!"

Check my phone for some temporary relief. Facebook. Twitter. Back to Facebook. No, I'm not old. I just hate Instagram... insert relevant eye-rolling emoji here.

Scroll YouTube for ideas for this or that. Remember I have to send a text to someone. Grab the fancy new book on my shelf. Put it back with yet another eye roll and big sigh. Finish sending my text. Stare off into space. Glance back at all the papers on my desk.

Beat my head against the wall. No, I'm kidding, but I seriously contemplated it.

"Stop!"

I take a deep breath. Finally, about to break.

I admit, "I can't do it. I just cannot do everything that needs to be done."

My stomach is aching, and my head feels like Serena and Venus Williams are playing tennis ball up there.

Is this really what my life is going to look like?

*

That was the beginning of my journey to soul rest. It was here that Jesus began to show me just how restless my heart had become—how consumed with fear my mind had been.

Maybe you have been there.

You are a child of the King, and yet you live as though something is missing. Well, that something is not missing. In fact, that something—that Someone—sees you right where you are. He longs to have more of you. He hears your broken heart.

He is speaking to you...

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

Restless: Finding Rest in a Restless World is a year's worth of prayerful meditation and a study of Christ through Matthew 11:28-30. It is a discovering and rediscovering of rest in a very restless world. This book is not a finding-yourself type quest for happiness. You will not have to dig that deep to understand it. So don't try to over-complicate it. Soul rest is simple, as Christ intended it to be.

In this book, we will dive right into the reasons for our restlessness.

There is, first, the Delusion of Prosperity. These are the lies that the culture has begged us to believe in order to find peace and happiness. Many of God's children have swallowed up these lies hook, line and sinker.

• "You will miss out."
• "More stuff equals happiness."
• "The more money you have, the better of a person you are."
• "Power only belongs to the rich."
• "If you had more, you could finally have rest."

The next result we see in the war of our soul is the Drive for Productivity. We will dive into the habits of toxic productivity and see how they play out in Jesus' way of thinking. Habits like:

• Work-a-holism
• Hyper-multi-tasking
• Neglect of the Essentials
• Hurry Sickness

In Chapter 3, we will look into the Demands of Perfectionism and see if our rest got lost in the rules of our own making.

Are we extremely irritable? Would we rather just do things ourselves so that they get done "right"? Do we have Eternal Syndrome where everything we do must have a strong sense of purpose—no time for recreation? Do we have an all-or-nothing attitude that makes us into a sharp and presumptuous critic? Do we procrastinate because it's just not good enough yet? Do we fear failure to the point that we never try anything that is hard? When we look around us, is all we see are clouds of grey and doom?

These are the marks of a restless person. I promise that Jesus' standards are better than yours.

The final reason for our restlessness we cover is the Dangers of Pleasure. Some medicate the restlessness in their soul by getting "after it." Sometimes they put unrealistic pressure on themselves and see if they feel any different. But I...