“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” ( Matthew 11:28)

Augustine’s rise to leadership within the Church was rapid. Converted in AD 387 he was consecrated as bishop of Hippo in North Africa ten years later. By this time he was preparing his “Confessions”, which was completed around AD 400.

The Confessions of St Augustine is one of the truly great Christian classics. While it contains biographical material—a novelty at the time—the work is much more than an autobiography.

In Confessions, Augustine bares his soul before God, honestly confessing the sins that had once held him in bondage:

“During this period of nine years, from my nineteenth year to my twenty-eighth, I went astray and led others astray. I was deceived and deceived others, in varied lustful projects…”

Book 4, Ch.1

The entire narrative, however, is written with a view to magnifying the greatness and the grace of God. He commences, as every prayer should – with worship through praise and adoration. He marvels that the God who fills all space should enter the soul of a man and dwell within his heart. Therefore he prayed:

“The house of my soul is too narrow for thee to come in to me; let it be enlarged by thee. It is in ruins; do thou restore it”

Book 1 Ch.5

Throughout the Confessions Augustine returns again and again to the nature and character of the God of love and grace:

“Thou dost love, but without passion; art jealous, yet free from care; dost repent without remorse; art angry, yet remainest serene. Thou changest thy ways, leaving thy plans unchanged; thou recoverest what thou hast never really lost.”

Book 1 Ch.4

Augustine came to understand that, in God’s providence, he had never been beyond the reach of divine grace. Though he felt utterly lost in his sin, God had always purposed to bring him to Himself. Yet the day of rest and peace did come—the day that must dawn in the life of every man and woman who is reconciled to God.

“…for thou hast made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee.”

Book 1 Ch.1

These are perhaps the best-known words in Augustine’s Confessions. Christians have returned to them for more than sixteen centuries because they express a profound biblical truth: the human heart will never find lasting peace until it finds its rest in God. One may read Confessions many times and continually discover fresh treasures, yet these opening words remain its enduring summary.

Have you found your rest in God today?

“On Thee my heart is resting!
Ah, this is rest indeed,
What else, almighty Saviour,
Can a poor sinner need?”
Theodore Monod