“Tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me!” Matthew 11:28 MSG
Beloved, remember from where you have fallen (Grace is higher than law) and come back to your first Love (Revelation 2:4-5).
Your first love is Jesus’s love for you, not your love for Him. Jesus is Perfect Love. He is the First and the Last.
Religion will always make it about you and your efforts. But you couldn’t have even said ‘yes’ to Him unless Holy Spirit was pursuing you and gave you the grace to invite Him in. Now continue in this grace.
“First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.” 1 John 4:19 MSG
When you lose sight of your Father’s passion for you and faithfulness to you, you will turn to self and make it about your doing and your devotion. And that will eventually leave you feeling dry, condemned and fearful.
But Jesus is calling you back to the security of being in His embrace and living from His acceptance and love. He’s telling you to change your mind and turn back to resting in Him and His righteousness. The life of grace is simple trust in all He’s already finished for you, all He’s doing and all He will do for you.
He’s not busy pushing you around and isn’t asking you to get busy performing for Him. He desires closeness, oneness, and intimacy. He’s waiting for you to lay your striving and forcing at the foot of the cross and receive from Him.
What it comes down to is this…have you been enjoying your relationship with Jesus? Or are you exhausted from trying to impress Him? Come back to simply being His. He’s looking for a love affair not a hired laborer. In fact, the only time He tells you to labor is to “labour to enter into that REST, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (Hebrews 4:11 KJV)
So get busy letting go of dead works and worry (the blessings of the Lord cannot be earned) and let yourself be radically loved and freely lavished on today. Everything else will flow from this river of right believing.
“Guard and keep yourselves in the love of God…” Jude 1:21 AMPC
Resting In His Love,
Annalee Reyes