Rest for our souls!

Long ago when bus services had been just introduced, it seems a farmer got into a bus carrying a sack of some vegetables from the field. Even after getting a seat on the bus, he refused to put his burden down saying that he had bought the ticket only for himself! When we hear the story, it may sound silly and stupid, but we also do the exact same thing! We carry our burdens to the Cross but instead of leaving them there, we carry them back with us! Our burdens are not just our sins alone. Our burdens include our situations, our trials, our troubling memories and our problems too.

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28," Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". Jesus then explains how we can find His rest. Jesus advises us to take His yoke and learn from Him so that we can find rest for our souls! And Jesus goes on to say that His yoke is easy and His burden light! There are three steps involved in us finding God's rest for our souls. First, we have to leave our burdens at the feet of Jesus. Secondly, we have to take His yoke upon us and thirdly, we have to learn from Him.

Yoke itself symbolizes burden and when Jesus says His burden is easy, it sounds like a paradox! How can a ‘burden' be ‘light'! His burden is easy and light because He carries it along with us. A new bull is always trained by yoking it with another one that has walked that way before. This makes the learning process easier. We are called to learn from the life of Jesus- obeying the Father, living a sanctified life, doing good even to our enemies, forgiving others and the list goes on. When we thus walk with Jesus, our souls will find true rest!

My friend, when we come to the Cross of Jesus, we do not get the freedom to live as we please because living that way will only lead us deeper into sin. A divine exchange has to take place. Instead of our burdens, we have to carry His yoke and learn His ways from Jesus Himself. Only living this way will lead our souls to rest.

Categories: Weekly DevotionalsAuthor: Hephzibah StephenDate: 21st August 2018 Share: newsletterDisplay date: 22nd August 2018

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