Do You Need to Fill Up?
By Rick Warren
“If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest. This yoke is easy to bear, and this burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (CEV)
Nothing is going to change in your life until you get dissatisfied with it. You have to come to the point where you say, “I’m not going to live this way anymore. I’ve had enough. I’m going to change. I’m going to do something about the way I feel.”
Sometimes it’s just too easy to put up with everything you’re going through, even when you don’t like it, simply because it’s familiar.
It’s uncomfortable and maybe even painful—but it’s not new.
When you do finally reach the point of desperation because you’re fed up with your circumstances and choices and the way they affect you and others, you need to go straight to Jesus.
What does Jesus say when we come to him with an emptiness in our lives—an empty soul, an empty heart, empty of character? How does he respond when we tell him that we have nothing to give?
He doesn’t scold us or judge us. He doesn’t bring us down or tell us to figure it out. He does the exact opposite.
Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30, “If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest. This yoke is easy to bear, and this burden is light” (CEV).
As a pastor for over 40 years, I’ve talked to thousands of people, and I’ve discovered only three things that cause people to change: pain, perspective, and having no other choice.
Most people don’t change until you feel the heat. There is no breakthrough until you have the breakdown! We all come to a point where there is a breakdown of our pride, our arrogance, and our self-sufficiency when we realize we can’t do it on our own—and that we don’t have to.
A breakdown is always the door to a breakthrough. Come to Jesus, and let him refill you with the power of the Holy Spirit and the hope of your salvation. He will never turn you away.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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