The 8 Great Promises of JesusSample

Promise #3 - Jesus will give you rest

FOCUS VERSE: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

How much sleep do you need?

The National Sleep Foundation (I wonder if they take naps at their offices) recommends on their website a guideline that says teenagers should sleep between 8-10 hours, young adults and adults 7-9 hours and older adults 7-8 hours. 

Many people love sleep and, definitely, studies show that sleep physically helps your body throughout the day and mentally keeps your mind focused.

Jesus promised to give us rest, but was He talking about a good night’s sleep? Could be. Many can’t sleep because their minds are so busy, worrying about the next day and what they need to get done. Jesus can help you have a good night’s sleep if you take this promise at night before you go to sleep.

Jesus began this section by revealing His relationship with the Father. He solidified the connection between Himself and God, stating Jesus is God and knows God like no one else. He tees up the next promise by reminding us that as God, Jesus can definitely fulfill the next statement coming out of His mouth.

Jesus invites you to come to Him with all your problems and drop them on His lap. That’s right…back up your fourteen-ton dump truck, beep—beep—beep, hit the switch and unload everything that bothers you right at the feet of God. Throw the truck in drive and speed away, throwing an appreciative midwest wave as you go. Whatever burdens you, bothers you and bewilders you. Leave it and see you later.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Whew! What a relief.

Wait a minute. But something’s wrong. You’re still troubled. You keep driving around the block in your dump truck looking over at the throne room to check up on Jesus and the status of your twelve-foot high pile of problems. “They’re still there. I don’t think He’s touched them. Why hasn’t He fixed them up yet?”

If you do that, you don’t really trust Him. You keep putting the burden back on yourself because you feel that you have to elbow Jesus out of the way and get to work because He’s not doing them fast enough or efficiently enough for your liking.

You forget the first part—He’s God. He doesn’t need your help.

Jesus reminds you that He’s gentle and humble, meaning that He’ll handle the problem delicately and thoroughly. You want to burst in swinging like Liam Neeson and get this fixed now. When Jesus said “gentle and humble” He meant He will take time to move all the parts in place, slowly and gently.

The promise only works if you leave the problems with Jesus and trust him 100%. If you only trust Him 99%, you’ll tear your hair out one strand at a time with that single damaging 1% of mistrust.

You can’t get the rest Jesus wants you to have unless you give it all and drive away…never looking back. He’s got it.