Jesus The One & Only - Trade Book Hardcover
This article courtesy of Christian Single magazine.
Americans are exhausted people. On the average, we get about three and a half fewer weeks of sleep each year than our grandparents did. We go into the office on weekends; overcommit ourselves to friends, family and church activities; and ignore the voice of reason in our head that says to face the highest priority in life (God) and stop being distracted by our busyness.
Jesus wants exhausted people. Isn’t it amazing that more than 2,000 years ago, Jesus called out to people who needed rest? Let’s walk through His offer to us in 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.” ~Matthew 11:28-30, RSV
“Come to Me”
These words are so soothing when you realize that it is Jesus Himself who is calling us. Still, Jesus can call us till the cows come home, but if we don’t respond, then all His calls are wasted.
When life gets overwhelming, many of us wonder where the Lord has gone. He hasn’t gone anywhere. He hasn’t changed anything. He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 12:8). If it’s rest we need, we’ll find it when we find our way to Jesus. When life gets complicated and overwhelming, it’s so easy to seek out godly parents, a pastor, Christian music, or a Christian book about rest to find a quick solution to an exhausting life. But Jesus says, “Come to Me.” The kind of rest that Jesus is referring to is a rest that comes from inside a person.
“all you”
The Greek meaning of the word all is translated to mean, uh…well…all. That includes you, me, your cousin Vinny, my Uncle Bob, your neighbor Poindexter, the girl who dumped you, the girl you dumped, the fast-food clerk, your boss, the mailman, the shoe saleswoman, the car dealer, the lawyer, your doctor, your doctor’s lawyer, your lawyer’s doctor, and so on. Rest is something that Jesus offers to all.
“who labor”
The Greek for the word labor is kopiao – “to feel fatigue; by implication, to work hard” (Strong’s Concordance) or “to work to exhaustion” (NAS). The heartbreaking thing about all this exhaustion is that God’s design for the human race was the garden of Eden. Heavy labor is the price humanity must pay for rebelling against God (Genesis 3:17-19). Even so, He longs to ease our burden.
The daily grind can mash the life out of our souls. Jesus understands this. He’s calling single mothers who fall exhausted in bed each night and students who work nights to pay for their classes. Jesus understands rising prices and falling salaries and widows who never expected to be working in their 60s and 70s. He calls to young husbands who never see their wives and children because of second jobs. He offers rest to pastors and youth pastors who labor with little to show for their efforts. He says, “Come to Me, all you who labor.”
“and are heavy laden”
The Greek for heavy laden is phortizo, meaning “to load up” (properly, as a vessel or animal) or figuratively “to overburden with ceremony or spiritual anxiety” (Strong’s). Jesus may be referring to people who have had a heavy burden of religious rules put on them by someone else. All through the Gospels, Jesus criticized the religious leaders for burdening the people with religious rules that God Himself never intended His people to have. Religious ritual does not take away sin; it just adds another burden to a life that is already overloaded.
One of the main reasons people struggle with giving their lives to Christ is that they don’t think they can measure up to the standard of being a “religious person.” In their minds, it’s too heavy a burden to be a holy person. Life is hard enough.
We should never be people who emphasize religious ritual. God’s plan for us is that the life of Christ flow through us into the world. The rivers of living water gushing forth from deep inside our heart will quench the spiritual thirst of those around us. Maybe religious rules are all you know. Lay them down. God is calling you to His side: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden.”
“and I will give you rest”
Jesus says, “Come to Me – no one else – and I will give you rest.” Got it? It’s so simple that many of the “enlightened” among us will miss the pure, heart-washing, life-giving simplicity of the call of the Prince of Peace. He will give you rest. You don’t have to earn it. He doesn’t say, “Come and we’ll discuss how you can make some positive changes in your lifestyle that will cause you to get the rest you need from the pressures of life.” The last thing an exhausted, worn out, burdened person needs is another book to read, set of rules to follow, or life-changing task to accomplish. Jesus’ offer is simple: “Come to Me and I will give you rest. It’s My gift to you for coming to Me. I’ll give you a break from this daily grind.”
“Take My yoke upon you”
In one breath Jesus says He wants to give us rest from our burdens, and in the next breath He’s telling us to put a yoke on ourselves? What gives?
A yoke is a farming term. A farmer would pair two animals together to plow the fields, putting a wooden yoke over their necks so the beasts had to go everywhere and do everything together. They walked and lived as one. It was customary for a less mature, inexperienced animal to be placed in the same yoke with a strong, more experienced animal.
Jesus isn’t wanting to put another burden on us by inviting us to take His yoke. He’s explaining that the way to keep the rest He gives us is to hook ourselves up to Him. Don’t go anywhere without Him. Let Him lead and guide you as you walk through your days of labor and toil. Notice that He doesn’t say, “I will put My yoke upon you.” He urges us to take His yoke. We decide whether we want Him to be intimately attached to our everyday goings and comings.
“and learn from Me”
Jesus is telling us that being yoked together with Him means walking at His side, leaning on Him, learning from Him, and learning about Him. That’s all He requires.
Read the story of Mary and Martha. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to Him, digesting His words, while her sister, Martha, was doing all the work. Martha complained about the disparity of work. But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42).
The focus of our lives must be Jesus Christ Himself. Focus on prayer. Focus on the Word. Turn off the TV sometimes and talk to Him. Read His Word. How well do you know Jesus? It’s not the same thing as knowing about Him from others.
“for I am gentle and lowly in heart”
Jesus describes Himself with words that make it impossible to feel threatened by His presence in our lives. He is gentle with those He teaches; He will not force His will upon us. He isn’t a slave driver, but a burden-bearing friend. As we walk through life with this gentle Savior, He says we’ll find rest.
“You will find rest for your souls”
These words of Jesus are a quote of Jeremiah 6:16 regarding the Jews’ refusal to walk in the way God had appointed. Jesus is telling us what will happen when we do walk in the way He chooses for us. And the meaning of the word rest is different from its meaning in verse 28. In verse 28, the word means “an intermission from labor” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary) — sort of like a coffee break for the soul. But the word Jesus used when He promised to give us “rest for our souls” means that rest will be something we possess, not just something we experience in short intervals. Rest itself will take residence in our inner being. No matter what life hands us, our spirits will be at rest because we are yoked with Christ. This is an amazing promise. Christ’s rest is not a rest from work, but in work.
“for My yoke is easy and my burden is light”
Being yoked under His guidance and “burdened” by His presence is no small thing. To sit and learn from Jesus, to let Him bear our burdens, to have a gentle and humble Master, to lean on the King of Kings, to pass through life with the Prince of Peace at your side – what a restful way to walk through life.
The “rest” of the story
All through the Bible, God’s salvation carries with it a promise of rest here and now. It isn’t a lack of labor that He desires for His children, but a rest within the labors of life. Rest in the fact that He will provide, He will protect, He will enable and He will never forsake His children.
Take the time this month to read each Scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to make it live in your heart.
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