Restlessness is no respecter of persons. Everyone is born restless. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, every one of us has been born a sinner at enmity with God, and restlessness is the result of sin in our hearts. Created by God, for God, we are restless until we find our rest in Him, as St. Augustine so rightly said.
However, those who are born again are not to be marked by restlessness. How is this possible? How do we still the relentlessly restless spirit that indwells all of us? I’m glad you asked! The answer is found in Scripture.
And [Jesus] said . . . “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).
Restlessness is replaced by relationship, both with God (vertical) and with others (horizontal). The more we invest in our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationships with others, the less restless we become. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in perfect relationship from eternity past to eternity future. As image bearers of God, we are made for relationship.
Quickly—can you name the first time in Scripture when the Lord said that something was not good? Would you say that this surely must have occurred after the Fall? Throughout the days of creation, we read that “God saw that the light was good,” “And God saw that it was good,” and so on, seven times, “It was good . . . it was good.”
And then, jarringly, in Genesis 2:18, we read of what is not good: “It is not good that the man should be alone,” the Lord announced. We are made for relationship, and when we fall short in this area for whatever reason—career advancement, social status, achieving and accumulating—we grow restless, because we are denying our divine design.
The world will tell you that your restlessness is rooted in your lack and need. Fill your lack and satisfy your need and your restlessness will be gone. As soon as you find the right relationship, get that promotion, land that new job, close the next deal, fit back into the clothes that have been hanging in the back of your closet since graduating high school, or move into a better neighborhood, you will be at peace, the world assures us. Don’t you believe it!
Peace is only to be found in a Person, and His name is Jesus Christ. The closer you grow in your relationship to Him the more you will be at peace. The more at peace you become the more you will be able to invest your life into the lives of others. When we look for fulfillment in someone or something other than Christ, we will be forever restless. Nothing in the created world was designed to do what only Christ can do for us. Investing in both the vertical and horizontal relationships will bring the deepest kind of fulfillment that can be experienced.
To love God and others is to love service more than status. In putting others first, you are filling a “soul hole” that can be filled in no other way. Give yourself to God. Give yourself to others. Relationship is the key that will unlock the chains of restlessness forever.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 