Work and RestSample

Jesus offers rest for our souls

In today’s Bible verses, Jesus addresses people who labor and are heavy laden. But this time He doesn’t mean their daily, physical labor. He is talking about spiritual burdens; which becomes clear when Jesus offers “rest for your souls”, not primarily for their bodies.

Jesus saw how people struggled to find rest for their souls by keeping all kinds of commandments; not just the laws that God had given, but also the countless prescriptions that their religious leaders had added. It was simply impossible to keep all of these commands, and thus to earn God’s favor.

That might be your personal experience as well: however hard you try to live a good life, you always fail. Sooner or later, you commit a sin again, and you feel frustrated and despondent. Your failures and sins can become a heavy and exhausting load.

Jesus does not urge people to try harder. He offers them a completely different solution: to come to Him, to let Him deal with their sins. If we entrust ourselves to Jesus Christ and decide to follow Him, we’ll experience rest. His yoke is easy, “his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

Have you already come to Jesus?