“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

This is a hard promise to lean on for me. I bet it is for you. I want to throw myself into everything, hold myself responsible for everything, control everything, and generally wear myself out. I am not as bad as I used to be, but still have some work to do. It is hard for me to relax for very long. I imagine you can identify. You may say it is impossible with your work schedule along with the demands of family, church, and home. But Jesus tells us to come to him and he will give us rest. This is just another one of God’s many promises to us.

This is a message more about worry than work. We are going to have work to do. We must work out our salvation in fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). We must work for the night is coming (John 9:4). We are told to go, tell, baptize, and make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). Paul said, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35).

But, we are not to be anxious. We work, but God provides (Philippians 4:19). We labor in the Lord’s work, but it is he who gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:7). We work out our salvation in fear and trembling, but our justification before God is already accomplished (Ephesians 1:7). As Jesus tells us from the cross: “It is finished.”

• There is nothing we can add to our lives that God has not already ordained.
• There is nothing we can provide for our children that God has not already set aside.
• There is nothing we can offer to the Lord that has not already been established.
• There is nothing we can do to accomplish our salvation or standing before the Lord that He has not already committed. He has already promised to finish what he started. In fact, “he has done it” (Psalm 22:31).

So, we can do our work with a glad and thankful heart, with grace, and always with patience and kindness knowing that the love of God abounds in our hearts. Or we can do our work in a tizzy, anxiously, complaining, fearful, always wishing for something better. It is a choice.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding I the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

The fourth commandment is “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.” God knew that we would need a day of rest. It is interesting that this commandment is not continued in the New Testament. Instead, Jesus is becomes our Sabbath rest when we believe Him. “Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. Now we who have believed enter that rest….” (Hebrews 4:1-3a).

To finish out Jesus’ promise to us in Matthew 11: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).

In Christ,

Judy