Finish this statement by Jesus: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you _______.
Chances are pretty good you know the last word there is rest. Here’s the thing I was thinking about today, though, when I read that verse. How many of us, even if we know that Jesus said rest at the end of that sentence, walk around with the subconscious belief that he instead said something like trouble, or pain, or punishment?
Far too many of us.
Now, we might not walk around with that subconscious belief all the time—it may come and go depending on where are lives are at—but the fact that it is there at all is a troubling reality and experience. I mean, for one, Jesus didn’t say that, so that’s a problem right there. But, even more than that, Jesus said the opposite of what we walk around at times subconsciously believing he said.
I love running and lifting weights. There are a lot of differences between the two activities, but there’s one thing they have in common, at least when I’m doing them. I love the moments where I can rest after a run or after a set of weight lifting. I think about those rests as I’m running and lifting. Two more miles, one more mile, five more reps, one more rep… then rest. My running slows to a walk, my hands go to my knees or above my head, and I get a chance to catch my breath. After the last rep of dumbbell presses I let the weights fall to my sides and hit the ground, and I catch my breath.
How awful would it be after a long run to get to the end and have no relief? Or how awful would it be to finish a set of squats, rack the weight, but still feel like it’s on your shoulders? I can tell you the for me, it would be enough to stop running and lifting. I think it’s why it’s no surprise that we feel like throwing in the towel in our lives every now and then. We can fool ourselves into believing that there’s no rest waiting for us if we come to Jesus. If we come to him he will give us nothing but more trouble, more pain, and he may even punish us. In other words, Jesus is just going to add to the weight that we’ve already been carrying around for far too long.
The good news is, this is wrong. We are wrong if we believe that Jesus said something opposite of what he really said. He didn’t tell those around him to come to him so he could make their lives worse. He told them to come to him if they wanted to rest. I know me, and even if I don’t know you I know that you like to have times to rest just like I do. The bummer is here we have Jesus offering exactly what we want and need, and yet so many times we choose not to come to him and forsake the rest he has for us.
The other bit of good news is that even if we’ve done that—ignored the offer of rest because we don’t believe him—we don’t have to go on doing it. Today might be the day for rest for you.
Stop running. Stop lifting. Come to Jesus. And rest.
“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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV)