I will give you rest

Matthew 11:28

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Rest is a much needed and rare commodity in the world. Is it often lacking, missing, outside of reach. Many never find rest in their bodies, let alone their souls. They can barely get physical repose on the bed at night, let alone enter a state of rest spiritually. Yet, this is exactly what Christ wants for us. We may be working, but our souls can be at rest. “Come unto me!” He says, “all ye that labor and are heavy laden.” There can be no doubt that many labor and are heavy laden. They are laden with burdens, laden with cares, and encumbered with the things of this life. They can barely progress forward, for they are hindered and held back by a large and cumbersome burden.

But Jesus says, “I will give you rest.” This seems a euphoria, a utopia, a heavenly state only of some imaginative world. We think that there is no way I could be at rest! How could I experience such a paradise, a perfect dream lived out? Yet, this is exactly what the Lord says we may experience. But the requirement is that we come unto Him. All we that labor and are heavy laden must just come to Him with a meek and lowly heart. For then we shall know Him, and shall find rest unto our souls. For He tells us that His yoke is easy, and that His burden is light. We must come to Him, and once we learn of Him, we shall find rest in Him.

Dear friend, I do not know well if you are in a state of rest in your inner soul. You may be, and for that I so greatly rejoice. And if you have not found that rest, I must inform you today that the rest you need is only in Christ. Come unto Him! All ye that labor and are heavy laden, learn from Him! No one ever carried any heavier burdens than Christ did when He carried the sins of the world on His shoulders, and when He took our infirmities and bore our sickness. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. No one bore the griefs of the whole world as He did. Learn of Him! How did He deal with it? He brought it all to the Father, and found His own rest first in God. You and I must go to Christ for the same repose, the same rest, and the same refuge. For if you will do this, He will give you rest!

“Oh Father, we confess that we often lack rest. We are without peace and settlement. But this does not have to be. We can come unto You! And You will teach us what it means to have rest unto our souls. May we look to You only today for the inner peace and rest that is so desperately needed. And we shall then find it. And we shall praise You for these things. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”