True Rest

Matthew 11:25-30

The load can be heavy when the car breaks down away from home, and you’re forced to carry multiple bags of groceries back to the house.  Maybe you’re out hiking through some rather rough terrain, and you’ve over packed your backpack with heavy items.  Now it is soooo heavy to carry!  Your destination is far, and your feet are so weary.  Eventually, though, you’ll get to your destination, or you’ll get home with your groceries.  Since these are physical loads we can eventually put them down.  There are other burdens that we carry, such as emotional and spiritual burdens, which can be immensely heavy, and these can’t be put down as easily as a backpack can slide off our back.  If someone offers to help carry our physical burdens we are thankful, and quickly hand over some of the load.  How about if someone offers to lift the burden of our emotional or spiritual load?  Would we turn as eagerly to them?  In our Scripture passage today we read of Someone who offers to do just that.

What are some of the burdens that we are carrying through life?  Many of us carry a heavy load of stress, perhaps from work or family concerns.  We carry burdens of worry, worry over finances, over health, over family.  There are burdens of resentment and bitterness, perhaps being carried for many years.  We may be carrying a yoke of sin, or one from excessive demands of religious leaders, trying to work ourselves into favor with God, or weariness from searching for Him.  As we read in our passage, the Lord Jesus calls us to Him, to bring these burdens to Him to carry, and to have rest (vs. 28-30).

The burdens we often carry can weaken us, and make us less productive for God.  We are not called to carry the burdens of our life all by ourselves.  Jesus calls us to come to Him and exchange those burdens for His yoke.  As we surrender our baggage to Jesus, His load, His will for our lives, is easy and light.  Jesus tells us to cast every care on to God, because He really cares about us (I Peter 5:7).  Allow Jesus to take our stress as we take His rest.

Jesus promises to give us rest when we find our rest in Him.  We will find rest from the endless, fruitless efforts to save our self by works.  God promises to lift that burden and give rest to our souls, but we need to make the decision to turn to Him.

Sometimes we get very tired and weary on our path through life, and fail to see God’s majesty and glory.  Trying to carry that weary load of worry, of problems, of trying to handle things ourselves won’t work, and it only adds to the stress and weariness.  Turning to others is so often fruitless, as well, since they frequently don’t have the wisdom, and are carrying their own burdens.  Jesus is the One we are to give our burdens to.  Following any one or any thing else will get us nowhere but lost.

We can’t truly love Jesus without obeying His commands, nor will we find true rest unless we take His yoke upon our shoulders.  The world’s yoke may sound light, but it leads to sin and slavery.  Jesus’ yoke leads away from error, and leads us to the eternal fields of joy.

In closing, let us remember that Jesus promises to give us rest when we find our rest in Him.  Nothing is too great for Him.  Jesus promises to refresh our weary souls when we cry out to Him.  He will free us from these burdens we have been carrying on our own.  Jesus promises us love, healing, and peace with God.  Jesus is always ready to lift the weight of our burdens.  We just need to turn to Him.