I pray that you had a special Memorial Day holiday last week. Each year, Americans take a special day (and even an entire weekend) to remember those soldiers (and all military personnel) who have died while serving in the Unites States Armed Forces. As an extension, it is also a time to remember all our military personnel who have served, or are serving, in the Armed Forces.

It’s also good for all of us take time to remember and reflect upon certain special days. Each year we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4^th; on June 6^th, we will be remembering “D-Day,” the day the allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy; on December 7^th, we remember Pearl Harbor; and on September 11^th, we remember the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon. And, of course, we remember those men and women who lost their lives as well as those who worked tirelessly to rescue others. 

Each year, we remember birthdays and wedding anniversaries, and special family moments. As Christians, and indeed most Americans, we remember the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day as well as His resurrection on Easter Sunday. And each week (or each month), Christians gather together to share the Lord’s Supper, or Communion, to remember the death of Jesus as He gave His body to be crucified and shed His blood so that we could have forgiveness of sins. Jesus said that we should do this “…in remembrance of Me,” remembering the price that He paid for our sins.  

Interestingly, each weekend we are reminded that following God’s creative activity, He “rested” on the 7^th day. Of course, He didn’t need a “rest,” but that day of “rest” was instituted for us, so that we would remember not only to “rest,” but also to remember all that God has given to us in His creation, including, but not limited to, the very air we breathe. 

Furthermore, the Israelites, upon leaving Egypt, were looking forward to entering the Promised Land so that they could finally “rest” after their years of wandering in the wilderness. But the writer of Hebrews tells us that this was not the “real rest” that they needed, nor the “real rest” that God had planned for them. The writer spoke of a “Sabbath rest for the people of God,” letting his readers know that “…anyone who enters that rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His” (Heb. 4:9-10). Interestingly, the “Sabbath rest” for the people of God is not a day or a time, but a person, and that person is Jesus. 

Our salvation is not something that we “work for” but someone we “rest in.” Salvation is not something that can be worked for or earned, it is a gift from God to be received. Remember what Jesus said, “Come to Me all you who are laboring and loaded down with cares, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28). Jesus is the only one who can give us true spiritual “rest.” And with that “rest” comes His “peace,” which He promised to give to everyone who finds “rest” in Him (Jn. 14:27).

The writer of Hebrews admonishes his readers to reject the pattern of disobedience inherited from their ancestors in the wilderness, and to “…make every effort to enter that rest…” (Heb. 4:11). Friends, as God rested from His work, I pray that each of us may find God’s true rest in His Son. If we accept Jesus’ invitation to “Come to Him,” then we will find the true rest that we really need, a rest that will last for eternity.