Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” - Matthew 11:28
Jesus calls us to carry the burdens he has especially prepared for us. If we stay close to him, he will help us carry the load however weary we are. “But I’m sinking,” you say. “I can’t carry any more.” Yet the burdens he asks you to bear will never sink you! How could they? He made you able to bear them. If we are experiencing that sinking feeling, it may be because we have taken on a load that has no resemblance to the load he specifically planned for us. Jesus promises that the load he asks us to bear for him will be light (Matthew 11:30). This is because his big shoulder is shouldering the main weight of it already. If we stay close to him, we will find that our load is not only light, but even a delight.
We don’t have to carry everything alone, you know. Sometimes when we are groaning under all the responsibilities we have taken on ourselves, someone else comes along and shoves his or her own problems on us. This can happen on the home front or the church front! The secret of discerning which particular burdens God wants us to bear lies in Matthew 11:29: “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls.” When we are yoked to Jesus, he will teach us what to take on and what to leave for someone else to carry.
For Further Study: Matthew 11:20-30
Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.
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