Bethany Woelmer
Technology in its very nature is restless. It consists of many techniques, methods, and developments. Its services are always running and running, traveling from machine to the next in an array of impulses that never seem to end. All we have to do is flip a switch, push a button, or pull the handle down, and — BAM — technology reveals to us its splendor of incessant power and glory.
We live in a technological society filled with restlessness. This technological mindset governs our life at times in many ways, whether we realize it or not. We spend too much time fixing things to satisfy us in our accomplishments and to secure a sense of pride in ourselves for having gained another skill. We are geared toward monetary gain, personal success, and popularity. We look toward the world to define us based on the presentation of our own achievements. We try to make a name for ourselves, an identity given only by the standards that the world presents to us as satisfactory. We flee from our real name, “sinner,” only in an attempt to “fix sin” by ourselves while covering it up with distractions and other realms of pride.
We are restless, yet we also find rest in the many gratifications that this world offers. We find rest in the many pleasures of this life that draw us away from the truth and present an array of happiness that only lasts for a short amount of time.
Jesus once said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” If we dig deeper into the core of our human nature, we find a heart blackened with sin and weary from its terrible effects. If we stop for a moment from the restless running of our life we look behind us to find trails of sin that are etched forever in our history. When we finally rest, we face the Law, which is why we always try to keep on running, yet when we rest we have a wonderful opportunity to taste the sweetness of the Gospel for us, our eternal rest that is found only in Christ.
In this technological mindset of fixing things, we battle against the many forces that lure us into thinking that we can find rest on our own and create our own identity from the world. Christ comes to us instead, giving us the name of Himself in our Baptism and creating faith in us by which we can look to God for rest from sin and suffering. In this world we will have many trials and sorrows, but Jesus calls to us, “Take heart! I have overcome the world.” He accomplished this rest for us on the cross, when He took upon our sin and died the death that we deserve. The resurrection teaches us that in Christ we are immortal beings, created by God and redeemed by Him in the work of His Son who took upon our human flesh. There is no need to “fix” our sinful nature by ourselves, because Christ has already accomplished it. Rather we must learn everyday about what it means to be a Christian, condemned by the Law, yet, at the same time, finding rest in the Gospel by which we are saved.
Before the Cross of Comfort
By Bethany Woelmer
Before the cross of comfort I find rest,
This peace to still my fears with each embrace
Of love divine sent to my weary soul,
Restored by life eternal by God’s grace.
The shame that drags me further to my grave
And teaches me to run and flee from God
Is weariness too burdensome to save
By my own might or by a sinner’s blood.
Christ calls to us, “Come unto Me and rest.
Your cross of suff’ring I for you will take.
Your burdens I will bear and so resist
The devil’s tempting pow’r for your own sake.”
Before the cross of Jesus I find joy
Of vict’ry over weakness, sin, and strife.
Love came to earth, this love that does employ
The means of grace to give us mortals life.
Bethany Woelmer is a member at Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, TX.
