Our hearts by nature are restless. How does do our hearts demonstrate that restlessness? In our culture of greed. In our culture of covetousness. I saw today that there is a credit card that now offers a 79.9% interest rate. What drives that? Greed and a desire for those who want to keep up with the Jones to have a credit card even though their credit is bad.
It is also seen in a craving for domination. Now where do we see that? Look at Washington, D.C. and most of our state capitols and we’ll see that aspect of restlessness at play. Our hearts will never find rest in politics.
This restlessness is seen in endless distractions, amusements and lust that can consume us. We weren’t made to find rest this way.
Augustine said it best in the form of a prayer in his Confessions:
You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.
Jesus said that true rest can only come from Him.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, (Matthew 11:27-29, ESV).
And yet many try to find rest elsewhere and their heart continues to be restless. The Preacher (King Solomon) in Ecclesiastes experienced this as well. He tried to find fulfillment and satisfaction is money, possessions, work, education, power and women. At the end of his life he realized that it was all meaningless and the conclusion that he came to was this.
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil, (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, ESV).
Don’t get to the end of your life like Solomon did realize he was chasing after all the wrong things. Don’t be like the rich fool who based his life on storing up wealth for himself only to find that his life was taken from him, (Luke 12:13-21).
You can’t take it with you. Temporal pursuits will never satisfy. We need to be rich toward God, (Luke 12:21) and look to satisfy our restless hearts in Him. For that is how he created us, and we’ll never be satisfied any other way.
