"Come to Me" - 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.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30

What an amazing invitation that Jesus offers to us!  I have been repeating it to myself for the last week and each time it weighs heavier and heavier on my heart.  In last week's sermon on Luke 22:47-53, Pastor Mark Driscoll noted: "It's not enough to sit under good teaching or to believe it - you have to do what it says."  Yet, how rarely do I go to Jesus with my burdens?

When we think of "doing what scripture says", we often think of following some sort of a law or rule.  However, here, Jesus commands us to do something quite different.  He invites us to follow Him.  He says that when we follow Him, we will find rest for our burdened souls.  Why?  Because when we follow Jesus, He offers, us freedom/rest/closure/forgiveness for our past grievances.  He also offers a much greater end goal for our lives...the only perfect end goal possible, Jesus.

Our sinful hearts often try to replace a few words in verse 28 to say "I will come to myself, myself being a laborer and heavy laden, and I will give myself rest."  Doesn't that sound foolish?  And yet, I, along with every single non-Christian try to do this daily.

God, the creator of heaven & earth, has extended an offer to you and I to take over our burdens, debts & sins, and carry them away to nail them to the cross.  We have been given an invitation to serve a God who can both figuratively and literally move the mountains (Jeremiah 4:24) and yet we pridefully toil day in and day out with futile (I mean this figuratively in most cases, yet literally in some) attempts at moving pebbles.

It doesn't stop there, Jesus offers an invitation to even more than freedom from guilt, pain, sin, etc.  He extends His hand down into the pit of Hell which we ALL (Romans 3:23) deserve to burn in Hell for eternity with the likes of unrepentant sinners like Hitler, Bin Laden, Charles Manson, and quite probably Ghandi; and offers an eternal party with Him in Heaven. 

Christian and non-Christian, accept the invitation, cast your burdens of Jesus Christ, accept freedom, turn from your sin and come to Jesus.  He has already done the work and made the first step.