The Cure for a Restless Soul

"I have climbed highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for"

These words  were written and sung by the group U2 in 1987 and first appeared on their "Joshua Tree" album.  The haunting chorus paints a vivid picture of many in America...We have looked in so many places, but we still haven't found what we're looking for.

According to enrichment journal on the divorce rate in America:  The divorce rate in America for first marriage is 41%.  The divorce rate in America for second marriage is 60%.  The divorce rate in America for third marriage is 73%.  We still haven't found what we're looking for.

The Office of National Statistics shows that one in six adults in America are now cohabitating - Living together without being married.  The average person who chooses to live together instead of getting married will live with six different partners (On the average) before finally getting married.  Those who do end up getting married have a 70% divorce rate.  We still haven't found what we're looking for.

The average stay for an American pastor at one pastorate is less than four years.  Only 10% of those who begin their professional career as a pastor will retire at age 65 as a pastor.  Over 80% of American churches have had conflict in the past three years.  We still haven't found what we're looking for.

The Employee Benefit Research Institutes states that the average tenure of the worker today is 5.2 years.  The average American worker will have over five different jobs or work for over five different companies during their working years.  We still haven't found what we're looking for.

The list is almost endless if you want to google the amount of change in the American lifestyle.  We try one thing, then another and then another.  It's not just the culture, this happens in the church also.  Churches jump from one program to another and one ministry to another.  Those in the pews of the American churches chase after the same things as the culture does.  

Jesus gives a profound understanding as to the cause of this restlessness in Matthew 11:29.  He says, "Take my yoke up you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls".  Americans have few roots and little perseverance because we have restless souls.  So many who are in perverted lifestyle want those lifestyles accepted because they have restless souls.  We hope from one marriage to the next, one job to the next, one church to the next because we have restless souls.  This is the inescapable truth of the modern American narrative.  We are an attention deficit society because we have restless souls.

Why do we have restless souls?  Jesus reminds His apostles in that passage that they needed to take His yoke upon them and learn from Him.  We need to align our lives up with what Jesus has in store for us.  Too many in the church want God to align Himself with what they are doing.  They want to say the "sinner's prayer" or ask Jesus into their heart, but they have no plans to allow Jesus to change their lives.  They want to remain in their lifestyle and the church is accommodating that.  You want to keep living together in sin rather than getting married?  No problem.  You want to go through one marriage after another?  No problem.  You want to live in a lifestyle that is sinful?  No problem.  Hey, if you look around long enough, you will find a church which has proof-texted the Bible and will even justify that lifestyle.  And then we wonder why the Church has no standing in our culture and why we have no Holy Spirit power.  We feed the restlessness of the soul rather than calling people to be yoked to Jesus.

I guess you could look at my life and say I have been rather restless myself.  I chose a college to attend in which I would not know anyone and would be known by no one when I first started.  Then I moved from North Carolina to Kentucky to attend seminary, once again attending a school where I would not know anyone.  Then I moved to Hawaii and California.  So you could say that I've been a little bit of a rambling man myself.  There is probably some truth to that, but I pray that these moves have been a part of me being yoked to Jesus.  I would not have chosen to go to seminary in Kentucky, but felt compelled by God to follow His leading.  Even the moves to Hawaii and California were not choices I would have pursued, but were direct leadings of the Holy Spirit.  

When I was ten years old, I made a decision to follow Jesus.  That decision began to crystalize in my youth and became more solid in college.  By the time I graduated from the hallowed halls of Wingate College in 1983, I had found that I was looking for.  I didn't need to keep looking for the latest and greatest.  I found my peace in Jesus and had trusted Him enough along the way to realize He was trustworthy for my entire journey on this life.  He has taken me on a wonderfully, wild adventure in which I have met some wonderful people.  He has given me an incredible wife who has, incredibly, stuck by me for the past eighteen years.  He has allowed me to serve in three full-time ministries, averaging over seven years at each of those ministries (My current pastorate will be eleven years on Saturday).  He has allowed me to have two sons who we are trying to raise to be yoked to Jesus.  I have found that Jesus' yoke is easy and His burden is light.  I don't need to restlessly look for the next thrill in my life.  I have found what I am looking for.

How about you?  Have you found what you are looking for in Jesus or are you still a restless soul?  Jesus is waiting for you to yoke yourself to Him and learn from Him so He can give you rest... rest for your soul.