Bishop Keith Butler
Apr 2
Come unto me, all ye that labour 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)
Have you asked someone recently how they are doing, and they responded, “Tired”? Some say that we live in the age of perpetual exhaustion. People are just constantly tired, no matter how much rest or reprieve they get.
Jesus knew this would happen, so He gave us a powerful promise. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said if we are tired, or feel like the burden of the world is on us, we can come to Him and He will give us real rest.
The word rest in this verse is anapauo in Greek and means a refreshing.
That's what you and I need. Jesus replaces our exhaustion with a refreshing of our souls.
But Jesus doesn’t stop with giving us a refreshing. Jesus said we also can take His yoke upon us. The yoke of Christ represents His teaching and guidance. So, Jesus promised that by aligning our lives with Him, we would find true rest.
Jesus was not offering us a vacation or a momentary reprieve from our exhausted lives. He was offering believers a transformation of how we deal with life. When we surrender to His teaching and submit to His Lordship, we can have a peace that transcends all of our understanding. His yoke is easy to bear, and His burden is light. What you really need when you are exhausted is not sleep, a vacation, or a disconnect. You need Jesus.
When you are tired, don’t give in to the lie that you should take time away from church, prayer, or your relationship with God. During times of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion, we should run to Him and He will give us the strength, the peace and the real rest that we need.