28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For
my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
-Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus calls us to take his yoke upon us. A yoke, as he refers
to it, is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two
animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull. In today’s lingo Jesus would be saying, “You
look tired. Come with me, I will give
you rest. Let’s hook up and do this deal
together. I will do the heavy work; you
just stay by my side and watch what I am doing.
Watch how my every step is tender and kind. You don’t have to be perfect. Just walk with me through this. As you walk with me you will start to walk
like me. I will bridge the gap between
your imperfection and God’s perfection. I will carry the load, just stay by
me.”
This is a verse I have gone to often when I am feeling
overwhelmed and overburdened, especially verse 28. I cling to the fact that Jesus can give me
rest. I love that about Him. But it wasn’t until about a year and a half
ago that I understood the how found
in the next two verses. I was at my
first women’s retreat in the Colorado Rockies.
That first morning during worship I found myself distracted. I was distracted by my almost Pharisaical
legalism. I wanted everything I was
doing to be perfect. I wanted to be
perfect for Jesus and I was worried that all I was bringing Him wasn’t enough. I was constantly striving toward perfection
and wondering if I was doing enough.
That morning during worship I clearly heard from the Lord, “Stacie, quit
striving for perfection. You are
beautiful and acceptable in my eyes.” I
felt this peace rush through my body and I was free to come into the presence
of Jesus just as I was. Throughout the
remainder of the retreat the Lord continued to speak those words into my
heart. He shined light on my desire to
be perfect and made sure that I understood that He never called me to be
perfect; He just called me. Period. He called me just as I am. He just wants me to walk with Him. And as I do, He will teach me His ways. He will teach me to be gentle and kind and
humble. He will carry my burdens and
bridge the gap between my imperfection and His perfection. Is that good news or
what?!
My dear sister, if you are exhausted, overwhelmed, and
burdened from trying to be enough stop right where you are. Call on Jesus. Hitch yourself up to His cart and let Him
carry the load for you. You don’t have
to strive for perfection as the Pharisees did, for Jesus doesn’t require
perfection. He just wants you. He will lead you and teach you along the way.
Just go with Him. He is enough for
you. His yoke is easy and His burden is
light. Go and find rest for your souls.
Lord Jesus,
Come. I need you. I need your help. I can’t carry my load by myself. It is way too much for me. Thank you, Lord, for helping me carry all
that I have to carry. Forgive me for
thinking I could do it on my own.
Forgive me for thinking that I could ever reach perfection on my
own. If I could, you wouldn’t have had
to come and die on the cross for me.
Thank you, Jesus, for being perfect and for bridging the gap for
me. Thank you for loving me just as I
am. Teach me, Rabbi, to walk in
gentleness and compassion as you walk.
Teach me, and make me more like you.
I love you, Jesus. Amen.
For those of you who are curious about how our retreat
went…it was phenomenal. Jesus was
definitely experienced by all who attended and I think our ladies found rest in
the presence of our Lord. I know I did!
