Come To Me

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28

This is one of the great promises from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We tend to forget however that the first three words are a command for us and they also imply something - a journey.

Jesus told us that we must first come to Him and THEN He would give us rest. He doesn't tell us how long the journey will be, or how difficult. He just says "Come."

Some people might have a lengthy journey through a trial or an addiction. For others the walk will be a short one. We might walk alongside someone, or we might find ourselves walking alone. Whatever the situation of our journey is, WE must make the effort.

If we keep reading in Matthew we will come across other commands and promises.

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:29-30

This tells us that if we are truly to find rest, we must first do something. We must put a yoke on ourselves. That means we must follow God's commands and be obedient to the Holy Spirit. But, like a dumb old ox "treading out the grain" in our daily lives, we tend to forget that part. We expect Jesus to come to us. That's not how it works. Jesus is Lord, not us.

If we are struggling in this life, why haven't we turned to God for help? He saved Israel time and time again from its sin, but first, God's people had to turn back to God. That word turn means repent.

God always accepts a wayward people if their repentance was true and humble. God requires us to make the journey. He made His people walk through a dessert to find what? His rest.

"Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. - Hebrews 3:16-19

Believe in God, THEN enter His rest. It's a journey to be sure. The first step however, is the biggest.