18 September, 2015

Come Unto Me

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28




Hear the blessed Saviour calling the oppressed,
Oh, ye heavy laden, come to me and rest.
Come no longer tarry, I your load will bear.
Bring me every burden, bring me every care.

Come unto me, I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, hear me and be blessed.
I am meek and lowly, Come and trust my might.
Come, my yoke is easy, and my burden's light.

We all know what it is to be tired. Every day, we reach a point of physical tiredness and need to go to bed to sleep and recharge. During the first part of this week, I was under the weather because of sinus allergies, and that magnified those feelings. The more intense the feeling of tiredness, the greater the relief found in rest. Therefore, rest was a very precious thing to me this week.

There's a weariness outside that of physical weariness, though, that can be even more draining to us. There are times that each and every one of us come to a point at which we feel mentally, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. Sometimes, we bring it on ourselves, and other times, circumstances beyond our control cause it. Regardless of the source of this tiredness, it's not one that can be relieved by a few hours of sleep. We need something more to bring rest.

There are times that we can receive comfort from friends and family that helps to give us release from the burdens of life, but there are other times we're beyond help as far as other people are concerned. Sometimes, we just need more than what human fellowship can offer. There are certain burdens that people simply can't remove or help us bear.

When that happens, where can we go? When we're burdened beyond what we can bear and others are unable to help us, we still have the greatest source of rest of all. The Saviour invites us to cast all of our cares on Him and go to Him to receive rest. He alone can give us release from the things that weigh us down. He alone can give us strength when our burdens are too heavy.

This is not a rest that is begrudgingly given; it is one that is freely offered. The Saviour desires to give us rest. He loves us, and it is not His intention for us to go through life burdened. Jesus doesn't save us to make us miserable, but to give us freedom in Him. His plan for the believer is to live in joy, so it's obvious that He wants to give us rest from the things that steal our joy.

The fact of the matter is, when we go through life burdened and weary, without joy, we do so by our own choice. It's our choice to remain under the things that weigh us down when relief is waiting. As the writer of "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" said, we often bear a lot things needlessly because we don't take things to the Lord. The rest awaits us if we will simply go to Jesus and take it.

As long as we live on this Earth, we'll have days that we feel tired and need rest. It's a part of being human. The great news is, however, that part of being a Christian is having a source of perfect rest. The Saviour beckons us to come to Him for rest. If we do so, we'll receive the rest. He's truly the greatest friend we could ever have.

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