“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Are you busy? Overwhelmed? Stressed? If you slowed down long enough to reflect, would you admit that you find your worth in how much you accomplish? Or are you afraid of what you will discover if you pause long enough to contemplate? Busyness compels us to do too much at the expense of who we are becoming. It’s “doing” rather than “being”.
Rest is not a valued commodity in our culture. Our calendars are so full we have no time to relax. We may even feel guilty if we take some downtime. But what exactly is rest? The word rest means tranquility, calmness, refreshment, and to be quiet or still. There are four types of rest. Sleep is one type of rest in the physical sense. Experiencing peace instead of anxiety and worry generates emotional rest. Harmony in our relationships with others is relational rest. Spending uninterrupted time with God creates spiritual rest.
How do we begin to experience rest? Our quest for rest starts with Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28-30 where He says, paraphrased, “Come to me all you who do too much, who have overburdened yourselves and overwhelmed your souls, and I will put you at rest when you take my yoke upon you.” The word “yoke” may seem the opposite of rest as it conjures a picture in our minds of working oxen being yoked together. Jesus’ audience would have understood that analogy as meaning yoking a stronger animal with a weaker one. In the spiritual sense, being yoked with Jesus means letting Him carry us. As He is joined with His Father in heaven, so we too are joined (yoked) with Jesus and enjoying the same intimate fellowship that He has with God the Father. By abiding with Jesus throughout our busy day, we can find rest even amidst the chaos. He is our strong shelter in the midst of a storm.
Finding calmness in the craziness involves surrender. Again, in our key verse, Jesus tells us to learn from Him, to be like Him in that He is gentle and humble in heart. When we surrender our striving and drivenness and become gentle and humble, we will experience rest as we abide in Jesus. That same gentleness and humility will carry over into our other relationships bringing peace and harmony to feed our soul and theirs.
Rest involves silence and solitude. Find a few minutes every day to spend with God, read His word, pray, meditate, reflect, and just “be” with God. Jesus often retreated from the crowds to find a solitary place to pray. He needed refreshment and renewal. So do we. Resting in His presence is a soul-satisfying way to start our day and to be intentional about our “being” before we begin our daily “doing”. This refreshing time each day can help us set our priorities so that we do what is necessary and have some margin throughout our day.
When we take time to quiet our souls, becoming keenly aware of who we are and who God is, we can then begin to be intentional about who we are becoming. Our “being” becomes more important than our “doing”. We can find peace and joy in simple pleasures, like beautiful sunsets or a child’s laughter. We can begin to let go of the striving and worry. We can start living in the present moment, not the past or the future, knowing that the One who created us, who longs for fellowship with us, is pleased with our choices. And we will indeed find that His yoke is easier than we thought and His burden is light after all.
Dear Jesus, I believe You when you say Your yoke is easy and Your burden is light. Keep me yoked to You throughout each day as You create a sense of rest and peace in me. Help me be intentional about “being” as I go about doing the tasks You would have me do. In Your Precious Name I pray, Amen.
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Copyright © 2016 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Are you busy? Overwhelmed? Stressed? If you slowed down long enough to reflect, would you admit that you find your worth in how much you accomplish? Or are you afraid of what you will discover if you pause long enough to contemplate? Busyness compels us to do too much at the expense of who we are becoming. It’s “doing” rather than “being”.
Rest is not a valued commodity in our culture. Our calendars are so full we have no time to relax. We may even feel guilty if we take some downtime. But what exactly is rest? The word rest means tranquility, calmness, refreshment, and to be quiet or still. There are four types of rest. Sleep is one type of rest in the physical sense. Experiencing peace instead of anxiety and worry generates emotional rest. Harmony in our relationships with others is relational rest. Spending uninterrupted time with God creates spiritual rest.
How do we begin to experience rest? Our quest for rest starts with Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28-30 where He says, paraphrased, “Come to me all you who do too much, who have overburdened yourselves and overwhelmed your souls, and I will put you at rest when you take my yoke upon you.” The word “yoke” may seem the opposite of rest as it conjures a picture in our minds of working oxen being yoked together. Jesus’ audience would have understood that analogy as meaning yoking a stronger animal with a weaker one. In the spiritual sense, being yoked with Jesus means letting Him carry us. As He is joined with His Father in heaven, so we too are joined (yoked) with Jesus and enjoying the same intimate fellowship that He has with God the Father. By abiding with Jesus throughout our busy day, we can find rest even amidst the chaos. He is our strong shelter in the midst of a storm.
Finding calmness in the craziness involves surrender. Again, in our key verse, Jesus tells us to learn from Him, to be like Him in that He is gentle and humble in heart. When we surrender our striving and drivenness and become gentle and humble, we will experience rest as we abide in Jesus. That same gentleness and humility will carry over into our other relationships bringing peace and harmony to feed our soul and theirs.
Rest involves silence and solitude. Find a few minutes every day to spend with God, read His word, pray, meditate, reflect, and just “be” with God. Jesus often retreated from the crowds to find a solitary place to pray. He needed refreshment and renewal. So do we. Resting in His presence is a soul-satisfying way to start our day and to be intentional about our “being” before we begin our daily “doing”. This refreshing time each day can help us set our priorities so that we do what is necessary and have some margin throughout our day.
When we take time to quiet our souls, becoming keenly aware of who we are and who God is, we can then begin to be intentional about who we are becoming. Our “being” becomes more important than our “doing”. We can find peace and joy in simple pleasures, like beautiful sunsets or a child’s laughter. We can begin to let go of the striving and worry. We can start living in the present moment, not the past or the future, knowing that the One who created us, who longs for fellowship with us, is pleased with our choices. And we will indeed find that His yoke is easier than we thought and His burden is light after all.
Dear Jesus, I believe You when you say Your yoke is easy and Your burden is light. Keep me yoked to You throughout each day as You create a sense of rest and peace in me. Help me be intentional about “being” as I go about doing the tasks You would have me do. In Your Precious Name I pray, Amen.
Want to subscribe to future posts? Click here.
Copyright © 2016 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
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