--AN INVITATION TO REST~~
--(Today"s Reading: Revelation 21:1-5)

-'I WILL GIVE YOU REST'
---(Matthew 11:28)

-AT a friend's bedside in a hospital emergency ward, I was moved by the sounds of suffering I heard from other patients in pain. As I prayed for my friend and for the ailing patients, I realized anew how fleeting our life on earth is. Then I recalled an old country song by Jim Reeves that talks about how the world is not home for us--we're "just a-passin' through."

Our world is full of weariness, pain, hunger, debt, poverty, disease, and death. Because we must pass through such a world, Jesus' invitation is welcome and timely: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28). We need this rest.

There is hardly a funeral ceremony I've attended where John's vision of "a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev. 21:1-5) is not quoted, and it certainly holds relevance for funerals.

But I believe the passage is also for the living. The time to heed Jesus' invitation to come rest in Him is now, and beyond. We can be entitled to the promises in Revelation. God will dwell among us (v.3). He will wipe away our tears (v.4). There will be "no more death or mourning or crying or pain" (v.4).

--Accept Jesus' invitation and enter His rest!

--'Father in heaven, this life can be wonderful, but it can also be so hard.
Thank You for Your Spirit's presence with us now. And thank You too for the reality of eternal life with You.~ amen'

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-When you're weary in life's struggles, find your rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
[Those of us who have been 'born again' (John 3:3), will never die. [John 11:25-26] ~~ We simply pass over to Heaven with Jesus and all the saints gone on ahead of us.]
/ I WILL RISE / Chris Tomlin ~
--ODB/LD
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzBFv3Bzn3o>
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