07/07/2018
Have you ever experienced rest in your life? I am not talking about a good night’s sleep, but an escape from all that troubles you, and total recuperation of mental, and bodily strength... a complete refreshing of Spirit and soul? Well if you have then you know what our verse this morning is talking about, but if not, then it is time to listen to Jesus and come to Him.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."”
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
As a young man I attended the Virginia Military Institute, and when you enter that place, you immediately step into a physical and mental regiment known as the rat line. It is intense physically, and mentally, and too difficult and tiring for me to fully describe here. It is like taking the worst and most exhausting day of your life and living it over and over again, 24 hours a day, for months on end. It wears you down to the point of breaking, and then begins to reconstruct you. I remember that time like it was yesterday. The intensity of it will not let me separate from its memory... it was a hardship that time itself cannot erase.
I also remember Christmas break that first year. I was a very different person when I came home that season. I had undergone a change of character and habit, but what I remember most was not the difference in me, but rather the feeling of rest. I recall lying down in the bed of my childhood, and sleeping uninterrupted for hours, but it was more than a physical sleep, it was a sleep in which I knew that I was completely and securely safe from harassment, and in which I experienced the total and unabashed love of my family. It was like breathing out the harsh world I had been living in, and inhaling the peace and love of a child.
In trying to draw a comparison to what we experience here on this earth to the peace and rest that Jesus speaks of, this is as close as I can come for you. It is more than physical comfort; it is a mental and spiritual escape into total love. It is like taking the most secure, loving, and fond memory of your childhood and wrapping yourself in it.
Jesus takes our yoke, and then he begins the process of bringing us into himself in a most remarkable way. Just as VMI was designed to change me through hardship into a soldier, a man of honor, and man of iron, the regime of Christ is designed to take a regiment of love, and transform our character into that of Christ. Instead of leaning on ourselves we trust and lean on him. Instead of overcoming by our own strength, we draw from His. Instead of grabbing moments of sleep from amidst the ever present hardship, and we find deep and restful sleep with total ease as He watches over us. Giving Jesus our yoke is to step into a peace and rest that only newborn babies fully know. It is total trust, love, and comfort.
Then we grow; not into a sword made of steel, but into men and women of amazing strength... the kind you find in a willow branch that bends under the force of a hurricane wind, and then returns upright after it has passed, or the kind you find in a rock that stands boldly against the surf and is battered by the sea... and yet withstands the onslaught without harm. Jesus gives us a different kind of strength than the world can provide, and it flows from God’s own love and peace... not man’s ability to endure hardship.
“And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me."”
Mark 9:35-37 ESV
Are we ready for the rest that Jesus offers us? Are we ready to face all hardship and trouble knowing that He will bear it for us? Are we ready to feel the love, comfort, and rest that comes from that assurance? If so then step away from your own self-reliance and in coming to Him exchange the yoke of the world for His.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the rest I find in your Son Jesus Christ. I thank you for your peace, comfort, and tranquility that flows from Him, and in which I am invited to partake. I thank you for going before me in all battles, hardships, and troubles. I thank you for allowing me to sleep sound in the night without fear because you are there watching. I thank you for the strength of character taught by your Son that withstands all attack and temptation. It is in you I find the ability to bend and not break, and in you I can stand against the powers of the word unchanged. I am happy to be a child in your kingdom Father, and no kingship or position of power on earth can compare. I yield to you in all things, and trust in you to look after me. As I wear the yoke of Christ I am yours, and do those things that you would have me do, because when all is said and done, I will rest in your house forever. You are my God, and Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who brings rest to the weary and strength to the weak.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV
Rich Forbes