Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. —Matthew 11:28-30
Here we find a wonderful invitation extended by Jesus to those who are laboring and bearing burdens. What is Jesus offering?. He says, “I will give you rest. . . Rest for your souls” (v.28, 29b).
This is a special Rest. It’s not physical, but spiritual.
Our problems require something deeper than going to the YMCA. It is something inside us; it is something in our inner man. Jesus certainly provides what our souls need:
To remove anxiety, Jesus offers peace to calm the troubled heart. (John 14:27)
To remove fear, Jesus offers love which casts out fear. (1 John 4:18)
To remove doubt, Jesus offers hope for facing the future. (John 11:25)
But, what does Jesus expect of those who wish to respond to this invitation? Verse 28 says, “Come to Me.” What does this mean?
It is a coming” to me.” It includes an act of renunciation on our part.
We should leave the place where we are (physically or spiritually) and we should move to a new place. Something in you should be left behind. It could be your ideas, your plans, your strategies, your reputation, your behavior, or whatever.
You can’t go somewhere and stay in the same place. That’s impossible! We should respond by moving from ourselves to Jesus. This is so important. Rest won’t come by staying in our frustration, discouragement or deception. We should move over to where Jesus is.
Let us run to Jesus! He alone is the rest for our souls.