“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
I so need this invitation from Christ today! It has been a week – at work, at home, with my health, with some of my friends, etc. It seems that we all find ourselves slowly getting steamed in a big pot of water on the stove and the heat is now getting uncomfortable. That’s kind of a crazy analogy, but I think you get where I’m going.
As a minister-at-large I get SO MANY phone calls a day it’s nuts. For example, I awoke this morning at 10 a.m. (I was up all night coughing). I had already missed a phone call and two text messages. I immediately returned the phone call while texting back one of the others. While I was on that phone call another one was coming through! The second message was from a lady I only know in passing. She is struggling with paying her bills right now (she was out of work for 5 months and recently started a new job). I have three different pastor friends who are going through physical challenges right now – all three of them are MAJOR issues – along with lay people and friends in the community who are suffering. Add to that the fact that I have been battling upper respiratory issues really badly this week, and I find myself needing to get away.
Jesus understands how we feel. I can’t even imagine the pull He had as He walked the earth amongst us. We only see and hear what we allow ourselves to, but He was constantly barraged with requests! We read in scripture how He would slip away from the crowds and get alone with the Father in prayer – but I can imagine it was just to have a few moments’ worth of peace. Just to breathe and relax for a little bit. And just like with us, it didn’t take long for people to notice He was missing then go looking for Him. And He didn’t even have a cell phone!
This doesn’t just apply to pastors, priests, rabbis, or other spiritual leaders, either. This is for all who profess Christianity, who are known in their circles to be a believer. The funny thing is when those who give us the most grief, who mock us publicly, who berate us in front of others – when THEY come to us privately and ask for prayer or counsel. And they do, too. This call to rest is for all who labor and are heavy-laden.
All who feel the weight of the world on their shoulders, all who listen to the fears and worries of others, all who answer the phone in the middle of the night, or who are driven to their knees by the conditions in the lives of people around them. This applies to you, my friend.
Life is hard. On everyone. But how hard it must be for those who don’t know our Savior, who have no sense of hope. There isn’t enough pot to dull their pain, there isn’t enough alcohol to relieve their pressure, there isn’t a lottery winning large enough to fill the ache in a parent’s heart as they see their child dying from some disease. That’s where Jesus comes into view, and to those around you – you are Jesus’ man or woman on the scene. You have the connection they know they need. You may not be the ONLY person, but you are the person who is available to them. That’s where the burden comes in, that’s the labor, there comes the heavy-laden.
Today Jesus is calling you and me to rest in Him. He offers to take the burden from our shoulders, to hook up into the yoke and do the heavy lifting. Not just on Sunday. We are, in the teachings of Paul, to pray without ceasing. We are to roll our cares over onto Jesus – who met every need, who secured the healing for every disease and affliction, who bound up every broken heart at Calvary. We are told that if two or three of us agree as touching any thing, our Father Who is in heaven, will meet us there and be the answer to that prayer. The original wording is more emphatic than the English language would insinuate. The original teaching is: “If any two or three of you agree on anything, I will issue a contract for it out of heaven.” It will be done. Period. If we are asking for something that has never been seen or done before in answer to a need, God will create the answer with His Word. That’s awesome!
I challenge you today, my friend, to learn to immediately run to Jesus for everything, all the time, wherever you find yourself. Don’t carry the burden, don’t lose sleep, don’t allow yourself to be drug down in the drama. Go to Him – the One Who Is the Answer. May the path between you and the Savior be a well-worn rut. May the stones that make up that walkway between you and the house of God be worn down by much use. And may you find yourself able to walk in constant refreshment and peace as God renews your strength and restores your soul.
Be blessed.
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