📖 2 Minute Verses #6
Matthew 11:28 - "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
I don’t know about you, but these days, I’m tired.
I love to work and keep myself busy with projects. Some days I have ideas which, if followed through, would take months if not years to see through to fruition. But I’m slowly learning the arrogance of thinking that just because I’ve had an idea, it must be a good one.
Anyway, I’m taking a few days annual leave right now to get my mojo back and hopefully to hear from God. I went for a walk today (on my own, no headphones or anything, like a psycho) and I found myself asking God what I should be doing next. What project, what song should I write, what blog post… but amongst all the noise and distraction around me the only thing I heard was a whisper: rest in me.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
(Matthew 11:28 ESV)
Come to me
Pride often keeps me from giving my work/ideas/stress over to God, as though I’m somehow cheating by collaborating with the Almighty (it is an unfair advantage really). I want my work to be my own, to impress those around me. I’m naturally greedy for affirmation, and somehow I’ve come to care more about my peers’ affirmation than God’s.
‘Come to me,’ is just the kind of comment that Jesus likes to throws out. It sounds so easy. But throw in human stubbornness, prideful hearts and an all-consuming project into the mix and suddenly things aren’t so simple.
Part of the problem is that we’re often so motivated towards our own efforts/projects/goals, that we actually have to stop and change direction completely in order to approach Jesus. Sometimes we have to stop the momentum completely, and that is naturally a hard thing to do.
All who labor and are heavy laden
All who labor. In my friendship circle (in London) it’s pretty rare to meet anyone that meets this description:
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.(Proverbs 6:10-11 ESV)
It’s generally the opposite issue. My friends and colleagues don’t like to sleep or rest. They work hard. Many people I know (whether in church or out) are at a point of mental and physical exhaustion that I would say borders on burnout. And often that’s because they are working hard and committed to church and visiting friends who are struggling and attending life group and teaching Zoom-ba classes every morning. Etcetera.
We’re doing loads. We’re heavy laden. But we’re just surviving. And that’s not what Jesus wants for us.
And I will give you rest
This is what he wants. He promises to take our heavy burdens and to give us rest if we come to him. I confess, I’m not 100% sure what that looks like. Perhaps it’s different for each of us.
But I think the rest that Jesus offers is a recalibration of our whole lives (mentally, physically, spiritually) towards him, which will bring us back to a place where we can follow that first (and most important) commandment with fresh vigour:
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
(Mark 12:30 ESV)
Do you need rest? Are you weary? What has your experience of coming to Jesus for rest been like?