“I WILL GIVE YOU REST”

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” —Matthew 11:28–30

I was preaching to a group of pastors a few years ago, drawing on these verses, and simply asked whether anyone in the group felt tired. From the responses, the better question would have been to ask whether anyone didn’t feel tired. In our always-on world, we all feel tired. We are worn out by our daily to-do lists, always feeling like we are struggling to keep up. We are bombarded with ideas, news, advertising, and opinions—much of it pleading its importance and urgency. We are ground down by our experiences of disappointment, sorrow, and pain. We lose more of our people without feeling like we have adequately mourned our previous griefs, and their weight seems to accumulate. We worry that we don’t measure up in the present, and we are afraid of what the future might bring. We feel like we should be more spiritual, more committed, more zealous—and all of that wearies us all the more.

Nevertheless, through all this noise and inattention, distraction, and discouragement, we might just be able to hear the voice of Jesus—“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Life lived in partnership with God offers a different way of living. All of our busyness and burdens might remain, but the rest that Jesus offers for our souls can change our hearts and minds. We might be able to re-prioritize some aspects of our lives as we learn from Him, but even with our current burdens, the yoke of Jesus can make them lighter and transform our weariness.