Finding The Hope

Day Seven

Come to Me

“Come to Me...and I will give you rest.” — Jesus

Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Sit down, take a deep breath and slowly let it out. Then read the following words calmly with your voice in a whisper. As you sound the words one by one, think of them as the words of Jesus spoken directly to you...

“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.”

— Matthew 11:28-30

     These are words of invitation—intimate, compelling words spoken by Jesus Christ. Unlike all other religious leaders, Jesus did not call his listeners to observe long lists of do’s and don’ts. Instead, Jesus called people to come to him. Today, over 2,000 years later, he is still calling people to himself. And his call is just as personal to you as it was to those who first heard his words centuries ago. He is not inviting you to embrace a religious system or a life of endless rituals; he is inviting you to a deep relationship.

Relationship Above Religion

     This is one of the distinguishing marks of Christianity. We are invited to enter into a personal and spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a relationship lived from the heart, in truth and sincerity. This relationship begins the moment we accept his free gift of salvation and place our trust in him alone.

     To be in relationship with Jesus is to have a faithful friend, a wise teacher and a reliable guide. It is to have God himself on your side and at your side. He is always there, always caring, always ready to listen and to help, always ready to calm the storms of your heart and able to repair the damage inflicted by the blows of life.

     Jesus is the heart of Christianity. He is the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world. He came to earth two millennia ago as God in human flesh, sent by God the Father to bring good news, to proclaim spiritual freedom, to be our sacrifice. He, the very Son of God, paid the price for our sin by giving his own life. He died a violent death, was buried in a borrowed tomb, and then came back to life again on the third day. For 40 days after his resurrection he met with his disciples and gave indisputable proof that he had defeated death. Then, in plain sight before scores of witnesses, he was swept up into the sky and returned to his glory in heaven. But he has not left us alone: by his Spirit he is still with all who put their faith in him. He is the one and only hope of the world.

     When you hear his call in your heart, run to him. Let go of your sense of failure and guilt, let go of your feelings of worthlessness and insufficiency, let go of your fears and anger and trust that he will receive you. He gives you a personal invitation.

     If you are weary and carry heavy burdens, Jesus promises to give you rest. But the rest that he gives is not the physical relief that comes from a much-needed vacation. It is a rest that reaches deep into the mind and heart and soul. How do we enter into this healing and renewing rest? Listen again to his words of invitation: “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.”¹

The Meaning of the Yoke

     Notice especially that phrase, “take my yoke upon you...” The yoke had several meanings in Jesus’ day. Most obvious was the literal yoke used to bind two oxen together as they worked in the fields. But the yoke that Jesus refers to in this instance has to do with something entirely different. In the literature of the Old Testament the idea of yoke was also used to speak of the relationship between God’s word and God’s people. It was used to speak of the law of God and of the connection of people to this law. The idea of attaching one thing to another is still there, but in this case it is about tying teaching to the heart. Jesus is picking up on one of the most fundamental teachings of the Bible. In the Scriptures God calls people to keep his word and to live by it. He adds, so that it may go well with you, so that you may enjoy long life.² The fact is that God and his word are so inseparably linked that to live by his word is to live with him and under his personal care.

     Jesus frequently spoke about the “yoke of the law” and how it had become a heavy burden on people. The religious establishment had so distorted God’s word that it no longer served to give them life, peace and guidance. Instead it had become a harsh master that ruled over them without mercy. It no longer revealed God’s heart to them. The teachings of the religious leaders had led people far from the loving nature and pure character of God.

     In stark contrast, Jesus constantly called people to believe in God’s mercy and compassion, to believe that God places a higher value on the human person than on religious forms and traditions. He spoke powerfully about the love of God and said in many ways that his love is greater than the worst of our sins and failures.

     Here we see another distinguishing mark of Christianity: the full payment for the debt of our sin. Jesus paid that debt. He became the complete fulfillment of God’s law by taking upon himself the punishment prescribed by the law for our sins. In other words, by his death on the cross he absorbed the punishment that should have been ours. Now we can choose to accept his sacrifice for us and be free or we can continue to carry the weight of our guilt now and face an eternity separated from God. Jesus says, “Come to me...”

     This world has no shortage of experiences and disappointments that wear on us. But the greatest burden we will ever carry is the weight that sin and guilt places on our conscience and its tragic consequences in our lives and relationships. Jesus promises to give our souls rest by relieving us from this heavy load.

     He doesn’t coerce us. He doesn’t say, “let me harness you into my yoke” but rather “take my yoke upon you.” You can hear in these words the call of a rescuer who pleads with a drowning person, “take my hand!” In the end it comes down to personal choice.

Letting Jesus Teach You

     “Let me teach you,” says Jesus, “because I am humble and gentle at heart.”³ Unlike those who harshly demand and dictate, Jesus teaches with gentleness of heart. He does not instruct with a demanding tone but with all the humility of a love that came to serve.

     His teaching produces peace and hope. It gives light to the mind and stability to the emotions. His word heals the sorrows we experience in the depth of our souls. And as we learn from him he develops in us a new confidence towards life, one that is rooted in his strength.

     His teaching develops patience and endurance and equips for life and all its twists and turns. It frees us from the sense of powerlessness that can overwhelm us at times and fills our hearts with courage. We learn from him that we are not alone and that when we come face to face with our limitations, his strength and wisdom empower us.

     Jesus says that his yoke will bring rest to our souls because it frees us from the burden of trying to gain our salvation. For the Christian, life is based on grace and promise, not on rules and regulations, not on sacrifices and rituals.

Stop Striving

     One of the tragic and exhausting pursuits of people, generation after generation, is the striving for salvation apart from Jesus Christ. But there is simply nothing we can do on our own that will ever be sufficient to redeem our souls and give us that inner rest. The good news is that Jesus did the only thing that could be sufficient. And now if we trust in him our struggle is over and we find rest for our souls.

     As we contemplate the teachings of Jesus and the truths of the Bible, it is a liberating experience, not a burdensome exercise. It produces rest, peace, joy and enduring hope. When we spend time in God’s word, learning from him, he begins to write his law in our hearts. The spiritual change that we experience is not one that we struggle to produce. Rather it is a new inner desire and impulse that comes straight from our hearts as we are transformed day by day. Jesus produces this inner transformation in us as we continue to come to him in prayer and reflective meditation on his word.

     For a relationship with God that brings peace and rest to our souls we must take his yoke upon us. The Bible says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”⁴ The yoke of Jesus is not one of submission to a code but one of dedication to a Person, a Person that we learn to love with all our heart, soul and mind.

     There is a rest that is found only in Jesus. This rest is for you. Don’t miss it.