“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.” (Matthew 11:28-29)
Jesus meets needs. I send this Scripture out pretty often because I need it and maybe we all need it. I think the general condition of all people, in all places and circumstances is “weary and burdened,” but we’re usually not honest enough to admit it. This world wears us out and loads us up with problems, regrets and yearnings we struggle to carry. And so we trudge and stagger through life. Jesus simply says, “Come to me…” I’ve bet my life on the truth of this verse and this is what I think it means: I should come to Jesus because he’s great at everything I struggle with. Looking at his life in the Gospels, Jesus was great at listening and saying just the right thing. Jesus was great at being both intensional and spontaneous. Jesus was great at sticking to the plan and letting go. Jesus was great at understanding and forgiving. Jesus was great at delivering hard truths in a loving way. I could go on for pages, but you get the point. Jesus wants to turn all our weariness and burdens into “rest” by teaching us to be “gentle and humble in heart,” like he was and is. The world wants to teach us instead to be ‘strong and proud’, which creates all the problems it’s supposed to fix. You don’t need an application, an admission or a tuition check to learn from Jesus, just: “Come to me.”
Lord, I admit that most of my weariness comes from bad life-techniques and many of my burdens are self-imposed. I come to look at your heart and try to understand your gentleness and humility. As I come, I thank you for the miracle of how you come an infinite distance to meet me and help me learn to live like you. Amen.
