Promised Rest for the Burdened

Jesus once promised, “Come to me, everyone who is weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” This is a promise that is verifiable. It is either true or it is not. We all feel weary and burdened regularly. We all feel heavy hearted and discouraged at times. If Jesus is for real and his words can be trusted than we can test this promise. We should be able to go to him burdened and find the burdened lifted and our hearts at rest.

The reason I am writing these thoughts down is that this very morning I woke up burdened and heavy hearted. So, this morning I went to Jesus. Within 30 minutes I went from feeling heavy hearted to a feeling of rest, peace of mind, unperturbed, unburdened. It does not always happen that quickly for me but it very often does.

How did I go to Jesus? It does not take a special spirituality to come to Jesus. Since he wants us to come to him he helps us. This morning I went to my normal, quiet place, to sit. I opened my Bible and began reading the portion that is scheduled in my Bible reading plan. This morning that included the words of Jesus in Matthew 13. I sat quietly and reflected on his words and let them sink in. And I expressed my response to his words in prayer. As I did these things, the Holy Spirit, who is also called `The Comforter’ by Jesus, did his work. My heart is at rest. How different life looks to me.

We often try to escape our burdens by distracting our minds with entertainment or pleasure. We do that at times without thinking. We flee our burdens by going to a screen or a party. Some people indulge in food or alcohol to excess. Others pour themselves into projects. These things may dull our sense of burden but they don’t take it away. God allows us our burdens so that our motivation to stay close to him will stay strong. Has it done this for you?