The Man in the Mirror
By Patrick Morley
(Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing House)
Rest
Are you tired? I don’t mean just physically tired, but emotionally and mentally tired? I don’t know about you, but everywhere I go these days I see tired men. Just plain exhausted.
Two kinds of tired make their way into my life. Sometimes when I go home, I’m “good” tired. You know the feeling. You spent yourself in a worthy cause. You’re tired–but you feel great!
Theodore Roosevelt described “good” tired this way:
It’s not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly. Who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions. Who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place will never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
That’s good tired. But that’s not the kind of tired most men are these days; most men are just worn-out tired. One of the greatest Christian fallacies is that we are not doing enough for the Lord. You’ve heard men say it, “I just wish I was doing more for the Lord.” It’s not that we are not doing enough, but that we are doing too much of the wrong things.
Jesus said, “Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28â29). Our emphasis always seems to be on doing. But God is interested in our rest. It is a priority with Him and, therefore, should be for us.
