Matthew 11:28 - "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest"
Do you wake up with contentment that all is well?
Do you have a constant sense that everything is under control?
If you're anything like me (or most people), you'd respond "NO!" to all of these questions!
And yet, we all yearn for such tangible peace in our days. So how can we get there?
I know it sounds ridiculously cliché, but truly, the only route to real peace is through Jesus.
Allow me to explain...
You see, our world is packed with an agenda that drives us into a rat-race for ostensible control.
No matter what we accomplish, there are always thousands of others who are accomplishing more, faster, better than we are.
In our age of unprecedented media, we are exposed constantly to the lives and possessions of others. Often that leads to our own discontentment as a desire for a kitchen like theirs, or that car, or that kind of wealth swells in our hearts.
These desires can quickly lead to feelings of inadequacy that drive our actions to change things for the better.
We tend to start finding hours at the margins of the day to achieve more in pursuit of stuff. Practically speaking, we sleep less and less as we pursue more control over our own destinies. After years of limiting our sleep, we are left feeling deeply exhausted!
That's exactly where this verse comes in.
This verse speaks so deeply to so many of us because we feel the deep exhaustion that our pursuit of control over our lives has brought. In our continued efforts to build our own destinies to no end, we get tired.
In Matthew 11:28, Jesus reminds us that HE will be our source of rest.
So how does that work?
Quite simply, we surrender our pursuit of control to HIS control over our lives.
It sounds scary, but when you accomplish this, you will find no need to work tirelessly year after year because He is working for you. You find the truth that all that effort brings limited returns compared to what He provides.
On the practical side, our attempts to control everything are futile anyway.
You see, when we really start to consider the details of our accomplishments throughout our lives, we see that there have been hundreds of factors that have truly been out of our control anyway.
Despite how much effort we put towards a new job, we rarely control the quality of our boss or the future success of our company.
Despite how much effort we put towards parenting our kids well, we control only a fraction of the choices and opportunities they will have in their lives on the whole.
Despite how much want great relationships in our lives, we are only ever "in control" of 50% of each of those relationships.
In closing, I encourage you to take a moment to consider how to truly find rest in Jesus in your daily routine... and then permanently. Consider finding more time for sleep in your weeks as you trust in Him and His plan for your life. Consider how much He will work on your behalf... for your good... even while you sleep!
And then rest...
