Rest

Good Morning,

Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

You know something? When I read these verses, as I have many, many times...and I'm sure you have, as well...I feel strongly that Jesus is talking directly to me. I read them and I hear Him say, "Come to me, David, I know that you are weary and burdened in your heart and mind and soul, come to me and I will give you rest. Take My yoke, My son, learn from Me. I am gently and humble in heart and David, you will find rest for your soul. You can handle the yoke I have chosen for you and the burden that you take on from Me is light." I believe that THIS is how we ought to read much of Scripture. We ought to read it and understand it to mean that God is speaking precisely to us...to each of us directly as His child.

There are so many of us who, this very day, are weary and burdened in some way. And, for some of us, we might be weary and/or burdened in many ways. So, to whom do we turn for help? Where to we go for some solace? What do we do in order to lessen the weight on our shoulders? Unfortunately, way too often, we don't turn to the One who can truly give us rest and peace in our lives.

We turn to alcohol, often. We put drugs into our bodies so as to alter the reality that seems too difficult to handle on our own. We delve into our computers and into cyber space, and way too often we end up in places we ought never to have gone. Point being here, we seek comfort and relief for our problems in the wrong things, people, and places.

Yes, I know that this is simple and obvious. But, as is true with much that is obvious, we need to be reminded that there is the right way to turn when we are troubled.

Jesus is the answer when we are weary and have a burden we can't seem to bear up under. Plain and simple.

I would ask all of us to stop a moment and look to see what it is or where it is or who it is that we may have mistakenly turned because we have troubles. The really good thing about this is the fact that no matter what we've done or whom we've turned to or where we've gone, it isn't too late to take a step back and make the correct turn back to Jesus. You see, it's NEVER too late for that. He is always there waiting to take our burdens and ease our weariness. He's there with open arms. He's calling out to all of us through these words He spoke in these verses of Scripture.

One other thing that we need to think about is the fact that Jesus may very well use some of us, your brothers and sisters in Him, as His conduits to help you gain His peace. Each of us, His arms and legs, His hands and feet, may very well be what He will use to help, well, each of us. And, to take it a step further, that would mean that ALL of us ought to be ready to help ALL of us, when we need to be unburdened and given respite to our weariness.

It's all part of the deal, my friends. I help you. You help me. We help everyone.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David