Find Rest (Daily Encouragement)
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden in light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
Yesterday we saw that the heart of Jesus, the center of who he is, is gentle, lowly…humble. This reality of who He is makes him accessible. When we look at the beauty, perfection and holiness of God and understand our sinfulness, this accessibility is what we need and is all grace. In it, we find rest.
Verse 28 of our passage in Matthew 11 tells us explicitly who qualifies for fellowship with Jesus: “all who labor and are heavy laden.” You don’t need to unburden or collect yourself and then come to Jesus. Your very burden qualifies you to come. No payment is required; he says, “I will give you rest.” His rest is gift, not transaction. Whether you are actively working hard to crowbar your life into smoothness (labor) or passively finding yourself weighed down by something outside your control (heavy laden), Jesus Christ’s desire that you find rest, that you come out of the storm, outstrips even your own. (Dane Ortland, Gentle and Lowly)
Are you actively working hard to “crowbar your life into smoothness”? Are you “passively finding yourself weighed down by something outside your control”? Humble Jesus invites you to “come to him” and “find rest” in the midst of it all.