Come to Jesus

“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.” (Matthew 11:28-29)

One of the most assuring truths for the believer is the heart of Christ for His people. Throughout Scripture, we read of Christ’s person and Christ’s work. But in one particular place in Scripture, we read of Christ’s very heart in His very own words: I am gentle and lowly in heart.

At the backdrop of facing our guilt from sin, our frustration from failure and weakness, and our weariness from self reliance and effort, we are given words of invitation from Christ: “Come to Me and I will give you rest”. What a contrast Jesus’ words are to our faulty human instinct and tendency of taking everything upon ourselves and trusting that we will eventually make everything fall into place. If we are burdened with sin, emptiness, or exhaustion, Jesus tells us that we are not to turn to ourselves, but we are to come to Him.

It is important to note that our coming to Him is also a result of His gracious moving in our hearts. As God prods and directs our hearts to come to Him, God also welcomes us with grace and mercy as we come to Him. In His presence, we find rest for our souls. We find rest that is granted not because of how we live or how we perform, but rest that is granted from knowing what Christ has done for us and continues to do for us. In recognizing that Jesus laid down His life to redeem us and that Jesus continually advocates for us before the Father, we hold on to the promise that our lives and our eternity have been secured.

Dear believer, do you feel weighed down by sin, weariness, or the cares of this world? The solution to our burdened heart is not to isolate ourselves or take matters into our own hands. The solution to our burdened heart is to come to Christ and to find our rest in Him. As we come to Christ, He welcomes us with a loving assurance that all our ways are known to Him and all our days are in His hand. As we come to Him, He also graciously grants us renewed strength, joy, and hope, that is founded on the promise that what He started in us, He will also surely finish.