Jesus Promises Rest
In what way do you need rest today?
Verse of the Day
‘Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”’
Today’s Devotional
This section of Scripture has been a frequent topic on conversation in my house over the last few weeks, if not longer. My husband and I have been wrestling with what Jesus was trying to teach us with these words.
How hard do we try to get things right? Have you ever wondered if you were doing enough for God? Sometimes in the pursuit of faith or “religion”, we forget that Jesus is not asking us to follow a certain set of rules. He is asking us to trust Him. He is asking for us to set down our preferences, expectations, opinions, and rules…and simply come to Him. And when we come, we will end up in a relationship with Him that will be guided by the Spirit, who will lead us to do certain things and not do other things.
Bibleref.com says it this way: “Here is the implication: Jesus’s Jewish listeners were engaged in a mighty struggle to know God the Father. Their religious leaders had placed enormous burdens on them (Matthew 23:4), and they were laboring to carry those burdens in hopes of being approved by God. Jesus has just said that He can reveal His Father to anyone, and He immediately offers rest to everyone who is weighed down.
Jesus is not talking about physical rest, necessarily. The following verse will describe it as rest for the soul. The path to the Father through Jesus is not one of weary labor and heavy work. Jesus’ earlier analogy about the path to life being narrow and “difficult” (Matthew 7:14) is entirely separate, and speaking from a different perspective. From the view of the world, following Christ means taking on difficult circumstances and giving up worldly pleasures. From the view of eternity—of salvation—following Christ means giving up the impossible task of carrying our own sin.”
The rest that Jesus is promising us is rest from striving, from carrying and clearing our own sin. Often what we actually want (now) is physical rest and renewal. We want our human experience to feel better. I was reminded recently that God gave us instructions for how to physically rest. We should Sabbath. One day each week should be free from work. We should spend that day enjoying God and the people in our lives. And resting like this requires prep work. Very recently, I put this into practice. And while it is still a VERY new thing we are trying, there is an element of rest and peace amidst the discomfort of doing something new. God does not tell us to Sabbath rest so that we would have another rule to follow. That would be in exact contradiction to what Jesus is promising in this verse. But maybe as we come to Jesus, we are able to see that the practices like the Sabbath are actually there because God knows how our bodies work.
I love the thought that Jesus is offering to carry our burdens for us. God did not make us to be emotional pack mules. We simply cannot handle it. But Jesus can. And today He is offering us soul-rest. But we have to decide if we trust Him enough to let go of the burdens that are weighing us down.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
In what way do you need rest today?
Where and how are you striving for God’s approval?
Where and how might you be striving for man’s approval?
What would your life look like if you allowed Jesus to carry your burdens?
What does being rested mean to you? What does it feel like?
How can you allow Jesus to help you today?