An Invitation to Rest

Paul reassures us that “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)

I have always been encouraged and strengthened by this promise. It moves me to rest, when I’m agitated or afraid. My inclination, however, is to read these verses from an external perspective, to think about the measure of what could come against me if not for His protection. That’s not wrong. Jesus does stand over us to protect us. “Because he holds fast to me in love,” God says in Psalm 91:14, “I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.”

But today as I read Romans 8, I find myself drawn to the inner workings of this promise; specifically, what it means to be “in Christ”. We are more than conquers because Jesus both stands over us and lives within us and we, through the mysterious work of the Spirit, live in him. This is the foundation of our rest. Paul encourages us, in his first letter to the Corinthians, that we “are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” C.S Lewis wrote, “A live body is not one that is never hurt, but one that can to some extent repair itself. In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble – because Christ’s life is inside of him, repairing him all the time.”

British missionary to China, Hudson Taylor, wrote the following: “As I read I saw it all! ‘If we believe not, He abideth faithful.’ I looked to Jesus and saw that He had said, ‘I will never leave you.’ ‘Ah, there is rest!’ I thought. ‘I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I’ll strive no more. For has He not promised to abide within me – never to fail me?’ And He never will!” Surely, our struggle lies in putting our trust in the one who loves us, the one in whom we live and have our being. Through believing this, we are empowered to rest in the love that never fails and conquers all our enemies.