“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-29)
Everyone desires rest. We all dream about the ‘easy’ life even though our days are filled with trouble and trials. We would trade light burdens for our heavy burdens all day long.
In order to bring these qualities into our lives, Jesus says we just need to come to Him. That’s not raising our hands and saying, “Present.” It means to entirely live in His presence.
We know one way that happens: Follow His commands. All His commands are about creating the best kind of relationships, both with Him and others. If you want your relationships to be on wonderful foundations, simply practice His commands in your relationships.
But we, being human, meaning sometimes possessing brains the size of caramel corn, frequently fail in our relationships. How many times have we sadly gazed upon the ashes of a ruined relationship and wondered how it could have been different?
You cry out, “Jesus, you said your yoke was easy. What happened?”
He answers, “I sent someone to help you.”
You look around and spy Hector across the street. He raises his coffee cup in greeting just as he trips and disappears into a flowerbed of daisies. “Are you talking about Hector?”
“No, not Hector. I’m talking about the Holy Spirit.”
That gives you pause! Everything you’ve ever heard about the Holy Spirit is just weird. Let Him influence your life, and it’s like listening to the crazy, eccentric uncle who shows up at Thanksgiving. The person you hope falls asleep as soon as he scrapes the turkey gravy off his Chicago Cubs sweatshirt.
You retreat to your first idea. “Why can’t Hector help me?”
Thankfully, Jesus is patiently wise with us. “Because Hector isn’t the Holy Spirit.”
How many people say something like, “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and that other guy.”
If you are a Believer, ‘that other guy’ is the most important person in your life here on earth. It’s He who helps you live entirely in the presence of Jesus. It’s He who will be at your side as you walk towards Jesus in order to find rest, in order to have light burdens.
Without Him, you will find yourself on a perpetual roller coaster of ups and downs. You will continue living with bruised relationships or entirely broken relationships. Your burdens will always be heavy. You will only enjoy brief glimpses of rest. Your circumstances will always rule you. Sound like your life?
In His last hours with the Disciples, Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)
The Holy Spirit is God Himself. That’s almost beyond comprehension. The God of the universe resides within each Believer. He chooses to do so because He wants to help us, to be a part of our lives. It’s either Him or…Hector?
Examine yourself and see if it isn’t true. Haven’t you tried every possible solution in ridding yourself of the burdens in your life? Haven’t you done away with one burden only to have another one come screaming your way? Doesn’t that cause you to mutter, “Not again.”
Isn’t your idea of ‘rest’ narrowly imagined as a lounge chair on Waikiki Beach? Or maybe you’ve created a ‘man-cave’ or a ‘she-shed,’ where for a brief moment, you’re free from the myriad of problems who maliciously await outside your door, so they can pounce once again.
“Surely there’s a better way.” How many times have you muttered that phrase? Or “If only ____.” I’ll let you fill in the blank.
Let’s visit about this over the next few get-togethers. Meanwhile, don’t bother Hector. He’s got his own problems. At the moment, he’s spitting dirt, digging daisies out of his nostrils, and wondering how he will explain the shattered cup to his wife.