“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)
In today’s Bible verses, Jesus addresses people who labor and are heavy laden. But this time He doesn’t mean their daily, physical labor. He is talking about spiritual burdens; which becomes clear when Jesus offers “rest for your souls”, not primarily for their bodies.
Jesus saw how people struggled to find rest for their souls by keeping all kind of commandments; not just the laws that God had given, but also the countless prescriptions that their religious leaders had added. It was simply impossible to keep all of these commands, and thus to earn God’s favor.
That might be your personal experience as well: however hard you try to live a good life, you always fail. Sooner or later, you commit a sin again, and you feel frustrated and despondent. Your failures and sins can become a heavy and exhausting load.
Jesus does not urge people to try harder. He offers them a completely different solution: to come to Him, to let Him deal with their sins. If we entrust ourselves to Jesus Christ and decide to follow Him, we’ll experience rest. His yoke is easy, “his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).
Have you already come to Jesus?