Articles
Rest
God has always known that endings are better than beginnings. He says so in Ecclesiastes 7 when he talks about how the day of death is better than the day of life. As humans this is a hard concept to grasp, because when we think of something ending our first thoughts are pain and sadness. God proves this to be the opposite, for as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
We find rest when we find God both in this life and in the life after this. In this life we find peace and love when we accept Jesus as our savior and as the Son of God. First Peter mentions how the flood waters in the days of the ark saved Noah and seven others. The water we are baptized with symbolizes the water that saved the Earth so many years ago, and it is our consciences before God that are cleansed by this water, not our bodies. The beauty of ending our old ways to begin anew in Christ is not just the clarity it brings to us on Earth, but when we are baptized we are baptized in Christ’s death and his resurrection through which we can gain eternal peace and rest (Romans 6:1-18).
How does one gain this eternal rest? It is not enough to solely put on Christ in itself. It is a lifetime of dedication and persistence because we are imperfect beings trying our best to imitate the Perfect Being. There are many opportunities in the Bible for us to read about and study our task that God has laid out for us. As Matthew 28 states, we are to go out spreading the Word to others. We are to do this with love, respect, humility, and more while doing our best to shy away from jealousy, anger, hatred, and other sins (Ephesians 4:32, Galatians 5:19-23, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Luke 6:37-38, John 15:12, Matthew 6:1-4, Genesis 1:26-27).
When we do not adhere to what is taught and written by God, the Bible is also very clear. We will live a life of the world and of the flesh; because of that we will not find rest (Revelation 21:8). We must do our best to be one body, to lift each other up so that way we can all inherit the Kingdom of God as loving members of a unified Church with a unified love and fear of God and His word.
