Read: Matthew 11:25-30
You will find rest for your souls. (v. 29)
Are you physically tired, or even extremely fatigued? Are you emotionally or spiritually exhausted? Are you weary of ongoing challenges at work or home, attitudes of co-workers, or argumentative teenagers? Health, problems at work, political issues, or divisions in the church can also cause weariness. If you’re experiencing any form of weariness, be encouraged. Hear Jesus’s invitation today.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (v. 28). Jesus sees us in our weariness. He doesn’t leave us alone. Instead, he comes beside us and offers to share our burden. Unlike two oxen yoked together, Jesus’s yoke is “easy” and his burden is “light” (v. 30). We feel lighter as our burdens are transferred to him. This includes the heavy burden of our sin. Our passage today follows Jesus’s warning to unrepentant cities—they will not find rest (vv. 20-24). But when we confess our sins and believe that Jesus came to release us from our burden of sin, we shall enter his rest. When we come, we learn that Jesus is “gentle and lowly in heart” (v. 29).
Are you laboring in your own strength, seeking rest from other places or people rather than Jesus? Run to Jesus, the only source of real rest for your soul. Augustine, theologian and philosopher said this: “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.” Rest in Jesus today.
As you pray, receive his rest.
Nancy Boote, an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America, lives in Holland, Michigan, with her husband. She serves in a variety of leadership positions within the denomination. Besides being a wife, mother, and grandmother, Nancy enjoys taking prayer walks, hiking in nature, mentoring, and has a heart for justice matters.
