Rest

-Written by Joy Gilman-

The older I get the more I value rest. I am a nurse at a local hospital so my workdays are long. My shift spans at least twelve hours and my lunch break is a paltry thirty minutes. By the time I get home, I am exhausted, both physically and emotionally. Working a long shift is not the only reason why we may feel fatigued. We live in a society that is habitually striving - striving for success, striving for power, striving for financial security, striving for love, striving for acceptance, striving to keep it all together. And in all this striving, we become weary to the bone. But this playbook for living was never God's plan and it is not Jesus' way.

"Then Jesus said, 'Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.'" Matthew 11: 28 - 30 NLT

Jesus offers us an alternative. "Let me teach you," He says. Essentially, He is asking for permission to show us a far better way of living that leads to rest. It involves being yoked with Him. The "yoke" He was referring to is a wooden beam or frame that joins the necks of two oxen together while they are pulling a load. As the oxen walk side by side , the yoke distributes the weight of the load equally. Neither animal is carrying the burden alone. It is shared. Jesus used the yoke as a metaphor to illustrate that we do not need to bear the brunt of our burdens alone. We can choose to link up with Him, walk alongside Him, and let Him show us the way. To be yoked with Jesus is to say "yes" to an intimate relationship with the One who can cure our compulsive need to strive and provide genuine, enduring rest.

Recommended reading:

John 10: 1-18

Matthew 5: 1-12

Luke 10: 38-42