Jesus said "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest" (Mat11:28). Rest and peace, now those are what I want. "In the heart of Christ, which was in perfect harmony with his Father, there was perfect peace. He was never elated by applause, nor dejected by censure or disappointment. Amid the greatest opposition and most cruel treatment, He was still of good courage. but many of his professed followers have an anxious troubled heart because they are afraid to trust themselves with God" DA330.
Jesus tells us how to obtain this rest. "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest for your souls" (Mat11:29). A yoke does two things for the oxen who usually wear them; first it keeps them working together, secondly it makes the job their trying to accomplish easier. The yoke that Jesus asks us to put on with Him is His law, that perfect law of love. This yoke keeps us side by side with Jesus in harmony with Him. The yoke is light and easy only because we are yoked to the omnipotent power of the Son of God. If we tried to bear this yoke alone it would crush us, but through His power we may accomplish the otherwise impossible and find true rest of soul. This rest of soul comes when our will is swallowed up in the will of God. It comes when our goal is perfect harmony between conscience and conduct. We may fail a thousand times and still have that blessed rest knowing that our standing before God is dependant upon the perfect performance of the One to whom we are yoked. So long as our goal remains to be in perfect harmony with Jesus, He who gives us the desires of our heart will see that it is accomplished. Yoked to Jesus we may rest from worry and fear. We may cast all our care upon Him knowing that He cares for us(IPet5:7).
"If you will seek the Lord and be converted every day; if you will of your own spiritual choice be free and joyous in God; if with gladsome consent of heart to His gracious call you come wearing the yoke of Christ,- the yoke of obediance and service,- all your murmurings will be stilled, all your difficulties will be removed, all the perplexing problems that now confront you will be solved" (TMB150). Now there's a rest and a peace I need. Dad
2 comments:
Beautiful post, Tim. It's interesting how Jesus offered assurance and rest "for I am meek and lowly in heart". In our world, a leader would never say that about himself for fear of being perceived as a wimp. Yet Jesus revealed God to us. So God, the Creator and Ruler of the universe, is also meek and lowly in heart. I find that so restful!
This post is truth. Truth is profound. The transformative power of truth is what we need to pray for. Proverbs talks about our understanding, and I beleive it is referring to first-hand experience with transformative truth, (opposed to the purely intellectual side).
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