Jesus Christ Gives Rest For The Weary

"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 have a friend whom I can say is very devout and religious. This person never missed participating in every known religious event. This person also goes through all the religious rituals a devotee is expected to fulfill.

In our circle, this person is almost envied by the others because as it appears, there is a sense of sincere commitment to a spiritual cause in all that has been done. Those who are not as devout and religious felt insecure, there is unrest to a certain degree, wondering if they could ever become as devout and religious, therefore becoming right and acceptable to God. To a certain extent, they would rather avoid the thought of falling short of that expectation, worse, never bother to do anything about it in hopeless resignation. "My life isn't right, and it just can't get as right as it ought to be, i guess."

But it seems like the one who was devout and religious also is in the very same dilemma. There is an admission of unrest in the sense that one is fully aware that one has no assurance really that what one has done is satisfactory enough to earn some form of "spiritual merit" before God. One has tried and tried, burdened to a great degree, but still never finding rest in being assured that what one has achieved so far has made one right with God. One lives in constant fear and uncertainty from day to day.

How are you today? Are you weary or at rest? Why?

Jesus Christ's invitation promises rest to those who respond.
Such rest is only experienced in Jesus Christ alone. He said, come "to me".
Only as you recognize that foundationally will you truly come to Him in helpless abandon. Without such recognition, Jesus Christ will just be one of the many other approaches you are engaging in. This will not genuinely give you rest. Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:9)

But first, have you come to that point of admitting spiritual weariness?
For as long as we feel spiritually self-sufficient, we will never truly come to Jesus Christ for His rest.
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) We all have fallen short of God's holy standards because of sin.

Once a sincere admission of "falling short of the glory of God" has gripped the heart of a person, one then approaches Jesus Christ in utter humility, asking for His rest. His rest comes through the experience of His grace and forgiveness, making us right with God, with ourselves, with others.

That is genuine rest, the shalom kind of rest, which comes only as a result of our personal abandonment into the arms of our Savior Jesus Christ. What we are never capable of doing in order to be right God, Jesus Christ fulfilled it all through His sacrificial death on Calvary for all of our sins.

Do you have the desire to experience that rest today?
Come to Jesus Christ today.