“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Our guest speaker, Jo Ann Richards, compressed these verses into a simple invitation: “Just come and rest.”
The above verses become more profound when considered in the light of Luke 1:37, which we reflected on yesterday. Our Lord God, for whom nothing is impossible, invites us to live as He lives. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me.” What can we learn from Him? How to love; how to forgive; how to serve; how to pray; how to speak in faith; how to respond to critics; how to stay focused on tasks. Because nothing is impossible with God, it is possible for us to bear the yoke our Teacher places upon us.
The voice of the apostle Paul speaks in agreement. Our light and momentary afflictions are not to be compared to the glory we will experience (Second Corinthians 4:17); God's grace is sufficient for us (Second Corinthians 12:9); we are called to put on the full armor of God, clothing ourselves in key aspects of His character (Ephesians 6:11-20).
So in the face of afflictions, we bear the yoke and experience rest. The heavy load of the world is counterbalanced by the light burden of submission to Christ. How amazing that the light burden consumes our attention! The struggles of life seem so insignificant as we look in the face and eyes and body of Jesus. The Lover of our souls, the One who has won our hearts, pours a rest into our spirits that defies logic.
World of woe, watch us rest in spite of you. We have chosen to carry a better burden.
No comments:
Post a Comment