“Come to me, all who labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (MATTTHEW 11:28)
Coming to Jesus is a personal
experience that helps us understand the importance of His salvation in our
lives. We have to take him for his word in order to have a close intimacy. We
come and he will gladly welcome us like a shepherd cares for his flock and then
we get healing for our complexities and find strength to encourage others. But
our coming to Jesus must not only be at face value. In order to see the real
light of Christ’s rest in us, we must set aside a few hindrances in our lives
first. We have to do our first part before we receive Jesus’ promise of rest.
SET ASIDE OUR FRAIL WEARINESS
We are to acknowledge our frailty and
dependence on Him including those that get in our way and surrender all the
difference that displays our failure. All the useless things, the pain and the
trouble we get from them. This is important to consider our new benefits. “Why
do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that
which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and
delight yourselves in rich food. (ISAIAH 55:2)
Next are our wrong partnerships,
allies and connections. If we place a high value of our relationship with God,
then we are to stay away from these pressures or severe our ties with them in
order to grow and stop being under attack with lost opportunity, misplaced
blessing and less confidence and more problems. Ignorance of instruction and
rebuke tends us to follow and maintain wrong friends who bring us more
complication in life. “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what
partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light
with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)
Our sweeping freedom in Christ
endowed us kingdom right and values that reflect that God is just. We become
His people because of the work of Jesus on the cross. Thus we are assured that
we have eternal life now and live with him forever. ”For freedom Christ has set
us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
(GALATIANS 5:1)
SET ASIDE OUR DISDAINFUL BEHAVIOR
We are to become like ordinary,
very plain but radiantly beautiful within as we allow God’s spirit to work
within us. We are not to look for praise for ourselves in order to prove our
greatness. We must put in absolute awe of God’s power and creativity for we are
truly trifling compared with what God has done. We are to cast off our pride
and our old sinful habits if we are to experience growth in our rest and be
renewed totally. We must be like Moses, meek and unresisting, not wanting to
argue and who endures injury with patience and without bitterness. (NUMBER
12:3)
The apostle Paul, in response to
the accusation of weakness by the Corinthian church on him, wrote straight into
the conflict and presented his position in contrasting his bold and militant
self. Like him, we should not be proud but show a kind and gentle quite nature
that is not afraid of danger or difficult situations and standing out
prominently for Christ. “For this reason I write these things while I am away
from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the
authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down. (2
CORINTHIANS 13:10)
In the book of Zechariah is found
the messianic vision of the coming prince of peace, the triumphant appearance
of the humble king; thus taken up by the gospel writers to describe Jesus’
entry to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. In the New Testament, the messiah came not
as a conquering warrior as what the Jews expected but in lowliness and peace.
Not like the last kings of Judah and princes of old who rode on chariots and on
horses, the messiah rode on an ass (ZECHARIAH 9:9).
SET ASIDE OUR DRUDGERY
We are to set aside our monotonous,
boring and unpleasant hard work, eve subjecting ourselves to unfair and
dishonest means. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for
the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for
your souls…” (jeremiah 6:16). This
means our history and the lessons
learned from it. We are to “walk in the light of the Lord.” Then you will defile our carved idols
overlaid with silver and our gold-plated metal images. We will scatter them as
unclean things. We will say to them, "Be gone!" (ISAIAH 30:21)
We are to follow (or understand)
God’s law that revealed his holy will clearly that ignorance can be no excuse.
His commands are understandable and not strange or remote for us. It is in our
mouths that we may readily talk about it and on our hearts that we may easily
remember. (Deuteronomy 30:11)
With our faith making its victory
against the world, we are to guard and obey (conform) in love God’s commands.
Jesus has said in John 14:15 that is we love him, we will keep (comply with) his
commands. This is the Christian’s power that conquers the world.
Let us all be aware of our weary
countenance, our self-preoccupation and do the first step in coming to Christ. At
all times, we have to take an obstacle inventory in order to get the true
message Jesus wants to work in us. Our union with the Lord gives us that
needful rest we replaced with our losing lifestyle. Resting in Jesus gives us
satisfaction as well as fulfilling and growing relationship with Him. amen
Michael Medina, WCM
The Light of Christ Ministry