Just when I
thought I had about exhausted all I needed to learn about Jesus giving rest to
our souls, I discovered that there was more. Since God’s aim is that I would “understand and know” him,[1]
our understanding may feel that it has been filled to the full, while our
knowing may still be wondering how to experience that which is understood, if
you know what I mean.
What stood out
to me the most this morning was how personal Jesus is when he calls us to
himself for rest.[2]
His “come to me,” invites us to know
him personally. His “I will give you
rest,” stirs up our faith that he will personally make this rest real to
us. His “take my yoke upon you, and learn
from me,” is a call to personally experience a love relationship in which
we find ourselves learning things from him that we have never learned anywhere
else. His description of himself as, “I
am gentle and lowly in heart,” is given so that we would experience
fellowship with him that feels his gentleness and lowliness of heart. Adding
the clarification that “my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light,” assures us that relationship with him will be a
restful experience as that which caused us to feel weary and burdened is
replaced by peaceful fellowship with him.
At the same
time, from our side of the experience, when we hear Jesus call us to himself
for rest, we should see something happening within us that amounts to coming to
him. When he says that he gives us rest, and that rest is for our souls, it
should feel like the innermost part of ourselves begins to feel restful instead
of weary. When we hear him call us to take his yoke upon ourselves, things
should happen in our hearts, and in our behavior, that fit that metaphor. And,
when he calls us to learn from him, that is exactly what it should feel like to
us when we meet with him, and fellowship with him.
I believe that Jesus’ call to us as those “who labor and are heavy laden,” is
worded in such a way that we could tell God every way in which we are laboring
to handle something that is wrong with us, and every way that we feel heavy
laden and burdened with things that are far too big for us to carry. I believe
that there is no exception here. It doesn’t matter whether it is a mother whose
daughter was demonized,[3] a
paralyzed man who needed his sins forgiven,[4] or
a woman with five failed marriages and living in adultery,[5] Jesus’
call is extended to all who would feel their hearts cry out to the weary and
burdened, “That’s me! That’s me!”
The bottom
line for me is that, if Jesus says that the work he invites me to experience
results in something called, “rest for
your souls,” then I can’t rest until I get that rest, so to speak. If
something in my soul, my innermost being, is not at rest, I must come to Jesus with
that need, present it to him in precise and heartfelt prayer, and wait on him
to lead me through whatever path he chooses, involving whichever members of the
body of Christ he mobilizes for my soul-care, until there is a testimony of
praise to Jesus that declares, “I came to Jesus, and found rest for my soul!”
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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