Try It! It Works!
Matthew 11:28-30 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.
Labor Day is the last hurrah of the season. Most of us are getting good and tired hurrying around as we try to make the most of the last holiday weekend of the summer. Come Tuesday we will all be tuckered out and needing a good rest. But of course we won’t get it because we will have to go back to work and the children will have to go back to school. And the frenzied pace of life will continue. Rest! Who needs it? Does anybody get it? Some people are smart enough to take some time to relax and reflect. Even the Lord told his disciples to come aside and rest awhile. In Mark 6:31, the disciples needed to get alone and rest. They needed a good vacation but not one of hustle and bustle. Instead they needed one of quiet meditation where they could recharge their batteries.
If anyone takes time to quietly reflect on their lives and the way we are hurrying on to “an endless eternity”, I hope the Lord reminds them of the passage for today. Satan keeps us so busy we often do not think about spiritual things; but for those who do take time to think about where we will be when this life is over, I hope that you will consider this verse. Most people think that have to “do the best that they can” in order to be right with God. But of course no one has ever done the best that they can. So where does that leave us? It leaves us struggling and hoping and worrying that we have “done enough” to be worthy of heaven. Now I know that there are people who say that they don’t believe in God who do not struggle and hope and worry. But I am concerned about those who do believe that there is a God in heaven that they will meet some day. For those people, this verse has good news. The struggle need not continue. The worry can be put behind you. Christ has done the work that saves and now all you have to do is “come” to Him and HE WILL GIVE YOU REST.” That is His promise. If you have no rest or peace about your relationship with God, you have not “come” to Him.
Of course, this verse is a blessing to all those who are laboring and heavy laden. Christ is a burden bearer. Any time we who have come to the Lord are laboring and fretting and worrying, we are doing something wrong. Even to the believer, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Our problem is that we often try to do the Lord’s work for Him and we do not just enjoy the fact that He wants us to simply have faith in Him. Before we are saved we try to do something to make sure God finds us acceptable when in fact that work that saves was finished at the cross (or at least at the resurrection). We just need to relax and have faith in the Lord. After we are saved, we get into the same mind set and try to do something to keep God pleased. Instead, we need to relax and have faith that the Lord who saved us will never forsake us. We need to be confident that His angel is encamped around those who fear Him (Psalm 34:7). We need to be confident that the eternal life we received when we believed is truly eternal and that we will never never perish (John 10:28).
The invitation is still offered. The Lord’s rest is sweet. May we all come to Him so that we can enjoy it.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of September 1, 2013