‘Stretch Yourself Out’ on Jesus

When we come to God, we can often expect him to say to us, ‘Work harder to control your sin, do more for others, have greater faith….’ But as we discovered at the Let’s Come and Seek God evening on 19 October, we sensed God saying something altogether different. Here are some of the strongest themes in what was spoken and prayed:

• Rosemary: We come to you as meek

• Nick: We’re invited to bring our burdens, relax, and feast at his table

• Brian: Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10)

• Beryl: Let me do my work among you, do not strive (Graham Kendrick song)

• Carole: Be at peace, rest in me

In the mid-19th century, John G. Paton became a missionary to the New Hebrides Islands of the South Pacific. He was trying to translate the New Testament into the local language but was having trouble finding an appropriate word for ‘belief,’ ‘trust,’ or ‘faith.’ One day after coming back exhausted from a group hunting trip, they put down their burdens and one of the islanders said, ‘My, but it is good to stretch yourself out here.’ Paton had never heard their word for ‘stretch yourself out,’ and this became the word used to translate ‘belief,’ ‘trust,’ and ‘faith.’

The faith we need to bring to Jesus is our willingness to ‘stretch ourselves out’ on him. It was he who stretched himself out on the cross to take the full weight of our sin, and so faith is our willingness to trust that he is solid enough to take the weight of our sin and all the burdens we carry, including exhaustion, anxieties, and insecurities. As the Crowder song goes, ‘Oh wanderer come home, you're not too far. So lay down your hurt, lay down your heart, come as you are.’