Feeling A Little Heavy Lately?
Excess pounds is only one thing that can weigh us down. We can also be so burdened down with worry that we feel as if the whole world is on our shoulders. Jesus has a simple remedy for that:
28-30 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly." Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message)
We see above that even our "religion" can so overwhelm us that we feel as if we can’t go on. Yet Jesus tells us that He has a "real rest". If we walk with Him and watch how He operates we will "learn the unforced rhythms of grace". There won’t be anything too heavy, there won’t be anything causing us stress because as Jesus says in this same passage in another translation:
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:29-30 (KJV)
Either way you say it, there is no question that Jesus want us to know that there is rest for our weary lives. He longs for us to experience the kind of trust in the Father that will cause us to walk through life, with the freedom like the birds of the air and the lilies of the valley.
In order to do this we must renounce the works of the adversary who seeks to constantly accuse us and make us believe that God is not with us:
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Genesis 3:1 (KJV)
From the Garden of Eden satan has continuously questioned God’s actions to influence man to believe that God is not completely for him.
7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers[a] all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are. 1Peter 5:7-9 (NLT)
We’ve been given tools to operate with that will lighten our every load:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;2 Corinthians 10_3=5 (KJV)
So, we can take off the stress and strains of this life and remember that:
127 Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Psalm 127:1-2 (KJV)
Rest well,
Maria