“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” — Matthew 11:28-30
When we examine our lives and reflect on the time we’ve been on God’s green Earth, we see a clear trend of trying to please people.
This has left us battered, bruised and broken. We’ve given people everything — our money, our time, our affections and our problems — and now I encourage you to give it to God.
The compounding effects of living in this current season of fast cars, fast money and fast living are the desire and need for rest. The National institute of Health tells us that most healthy adults need seven to nine hours of rest for the human body to be at peak performance. But even with all those hours of natural rest, the children of God struggle to maintain their spiritual health because their spirit is not at rest.
We wrestle with financial troubles, relationship struggles, family confusion, self-esteem issues and spiritual imperfections. But, Christ instructs us to bring that stuff to Him. We’ve been laboring, trying to work it out by ourselves, causing us health issues and sleepless nights. Now, God wants to make our burden lighter by transferring the heavy things over to Him.
Our walks as Christians are much like that of a soldier in battle. We are on guard 24 hours a day, seven days a week, because we have an enemy who desires to defeat us. But, Christ realizes the flaw of the flesh is that we can’t be at our best if all we do is walk heavy and weighted down by our personal situations. So He says, “Give it to Me.” It may not disappear, but He’ll have the situation in His hands and you won’t have to worry about or carry the entire load.
We serve a God who, in Philippians 4:7 says, “…the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” God wants us to have peace, but we have to learn how to give the drama and mess to Him. He knows how to deal with anything we may face. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. When we find ungodly situations coming at us like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against it.
Just give it to God. Give Him your best, and let Him do the rest.
Hayes is the pastor of New Day Community Church and the president of the United Ministerial Alliance.
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