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Welcome

Twenty-one is a reading plan we created with the hope that it will help you connect with God and prepare your heart for Easter. We’re glad you’ve opted to join us on this journey and look forward to celebrating Easter with you!

Text BEACHSIDE21 to 97000 to receive these readings straight to your mobile device every morning.

Day 12

When my body is tired, I know what to do. I know what the problem is.
I have not been going to bed early enough. I have not been resting physically. 

The solution—though difficult to put into practice for many—is obvious. 

But what about when our souls and spirits are weary? What happens when our hope is running low? Where do we turn and what do we do when physical rest isn’t our biggest problem? How can we find rest for the inside part— the part that seems to be spinning and spinning and can never find rest.

Honestly, that feels more complicated, but really it’s quite simple. Jesus tells us: 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

— MATTHEW 11:28–30

Rest for your souls? What does that even mean?

John Piper says it like this:
“Our souls only find rest in hope. That’s what we’re frantically looking for whenever our souls are burdened and restless: hope. And that’s what most of the marketing of most of the products in the world tries to offer us: hope. But they are false hopes for soul-rest, providing only temporary distraction from or briefly masking the effects of our burdened souls. They don’t truly lighten our loads.”

 So Jesus says that you can find rest for your soul when you take his yoke, his burden, and give him yours. What does that mean? It means that you trade worry about all kinds of things you can’t control for the burden of believing and trusting. We say to him, “I can’t handle the worries of life. I believe you can.”

We pray a double-rest prayer that sounds like this: 

Jesus, will you let my soul rest while you handle the rest?

His burden is light, because it’s just belief and trust. It’s not doing. It’s not performing. It’s not living up to expectations. It’s not measuring up or proving anything. It’s just placing our full confidence in a God who loves us, is good, is trustworthy, is kind, has it all figured out, and is in full control. We take our hands off the reigns and place them into his capable, loving, kind hands.

Does your soul need rest? Are you weary? Tell him today. Tell Jesus you trust him. Tell him you want to trade burdens. Let him carry yours today. Then when you try to pick your burden back up, tell him again. He has you.

Rest in that truth!

Welcome

Twenty-one is a reading plan we created with the hope that it will help you connect with God and prepare your heart for Easter. We’re glad you’ve opted to join us on this journey and look forward to celebrating Easter with you!

Text BEACHSIDE21 to 97000 to receive these readings straight to your mobile device every morning.

Day 10

Have you ever not been invited to a party?
Maybe you’ve seen people posting about a big party or event that you missed.
Maybe you were left off the list of friends going out to dinner.
Maybe the boss picked somebody else for the opportunity you felt you deserved.
Maybe the coach selected others for the team.

Most of us know what it’s like to be left out or uninvited. It can be awful. 

Maybe that’s why Jesus is so intent on teaching his followers to be inviters.
He doesn’t want anybody left out.
He longs that all be invited, that everybody discovers the gift of grace he gave to the world. His compassion compelled him to teach his followers to be inviters. 

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.’”

— MATTHEW 9:36

Plenty of people need an invitation. If you know Jesus, you have unlimited invitations to hand out. Apparently, people are ready to be invited. The harvest is ready. The workers, the inviters, are scarce. What might happen if we all started inviting? We might incite some partying. Check this out . . .

“If one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the missing one till he has found it? How delighted he is then! He lifts it onto his shoulders, and home he goes to call his friends and neighbors together. ‘Celebrate with me!’ he cries. ‘I have found my lost sheep.’”

— LUKE 15:4–6

Jesus told that story in an effort to illustrate what happens in heaven when just one person understands God’s love and meets the Savior. A party breaks out.  Celebration ensues. It’s a big deal to God when people who need him meet him. And he lets you and me carry the invitations. That’s a big deal. We’ve got a big job. 

So if you know Jesus and you want to invite people to the party, maybe this week you can start to make your guest list. Then take some time and make praying for your invitees a regular part of your week. 

Jesus wants you to be a harvest-gathering, sheep-finding, party-starting inviter.
Start some parties.
Triple dog dare. 

Welcome

Twenty-one is a reading plan we created with the hope that it will help you connect with God and prepare your heart for Easter. We’re glad you’ve opted to join us on this journey and look forward to celebrating Easter with you!

Text BEACHSIDE21 to 97000 to receive these readings straight to your mobile device every morning.

Day 7

Jesus followed God’s backward path to greatness and we can too.
We all want to be special. We all want to be great.  

While we may not want to stand on a stage or be recognized by millions, we all want to be great in our own right and in our own way. 
You want to be a great mom.
You want to be a great friend.
You want to be a great fashion designer.
You want to be known for your charitable heart.
You desire deeply to be a great teacher, husband, artist, businessman or businesswoman, nurse, leader, follower, pastor, or athlete.
You have your way that you want to be great.  

Nothing in you walks around hoping to be average or below average or terrible. We don’t desire insignificance. We don’t long to be unimportant and menial. We long for greatness, which makes it so awesome that God has a plan for greatness. 

It’s no surprise that as the men following Jesus witnessed his power through healings and other miracles, they began to feel pretty good about themselves. They had been invited into Jesus’ inner circle! 

Within the inner circle of the inner circle, a debate began to form. They assumed they were great because they had been called to follow him so closely . . . but who was the greatest of the great? 

As they walked one day, that debate was at the center of their conversation. 

Of course, Jesus caught wind of the conversation and wanted to give clarity to the actual path to greatness. He sat them down and said this: 

“Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

— Mark 9:35

Can you imagine the looks on their faces?
“Wait, what? Hold up. To be first, I have to be last? To be great, I have to be nothing?”
That’s so backwards. 

But Jesus followed God’s backward path to greatness and we can too.
Jesus became nothing, dying a criminal’s death on the cross. 

And that made him the greatest of all. 

So what is making you great today? Is it your success? Is that what makes you great? Or is it the moment you die to yourself and become a servant to those around you? 

You can be great today. You know you want to be.
So become no big deal as you make a big deal of someone else. That’s what makes you great. 

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