Christ Jesus demonstrated spiritual rest, and we can learn from his example how to realize it. Once during a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee, the Master slept. His disciples, in great fear and impatient at his seeming unconcern for their safety, awoke him, saying, "Lord, save us: we perish" (Matt. 8:25). We are told that "he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm."
Jesus could rest in that tempest-tossed ship. The surging waves did not disturb him, because he was conscious of God's presence, power, and love. When he questioned his disciples, "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" may he not have spiritually awakened them to the realization that calm and harmony are always present in God's perfect universe? The secret of Jesus' abiding serenity was his understanding that only harmony is real and that discord, the suppositional absence of God, is always unreal.
Even in the midst of the lawlessness of his time, the cruel denunciations against his teachings, and the constant threats against his life, Jesus could say (Matt. 11: 28, 29): "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; . . . and ye shall find rest unto your souls."
