Matthew 11:25-30 (NIV)
Rest for the Weary
At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
"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."
The Christmas season has begun! In only four weeks we will be celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But how often, in the time between now and that special day, do we lose sight of what this season is truly about? This passage in the book of Matthew is titled “Rest for the Weary.” For many of us by this time of the year we have grown exhausted, and lost our patience. Long days at work, and endless hours of shopping consume our lives. We struggle to see the true meaning of the season. Yet in this passage Jesus tells us that all things that He has been given have been given to him by the Father. The same is true of us; everything that we have ever had, have now or ever will have is all thanks to the Father. We have been through 3/4’s of this year. Did we forget about Thanksgiving? Will we forget about all the things that God provides for us on a daily basis?
The passage closes by saying that in our times of trouble, weariness, or when we are burdened we should go to God. Many times at this time of the year, we are weary. We have lost our sight. We have nothing to worry about though, for he is humble and he will rest our souls. God provides for us on a daily basis, and we too often forget that. Instead of worrying this Christmas season, let us thank the Lord for his gifts to us, and allow Him to take care of our burdens.
Let us pray: Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we thank you for all that you have ever given us. We ask Lord, that you help us to acknowledge with our whole heart all of your goodness that you provide for each and every one of us. Lord, we thank and praise you for your never-ending loving-kindness and mercy. We pray these things in your precious name. Amen.
The official Biblical blog of Dan Schelp and Joseph Highley We try to take on topics and Bible passages whenever we can, and we really appreciate comments as well!
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6 comments:
I think that Dan makes a great point about having grown weary and restless around this time of season. One of the most comforting parts of the entire Bible to me is the part that says, "come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest for your souls." Some times I really really need that rest for my soul. How many times in life do we just hurt inside? There are so many times that it just gets into our gut and just burns, and we just want to break something. God is our Good Shepard though and leads us, his flock.
Another great point that Dan makes is that God deserves all thanks and praise. Thanksgiving has come and gone, yet the things that we have to be thankful for remain here. The Lord has blessed us richly and that in itself is enough of a reason to live joyfully everyday!
Thanks Joe. . .I know what your talking about, hurting inside. We have so much and at the same time, if it weren't for God it would be so little. And too often than not we think that we don't have enough, or that we didn't do good enough. And after all of our frustrations, troubles, and wants we just hurt. We have no reason to hurt inside, instead, we have every reason to "rest." Life goes on and with God, it goes on frustration free, because we know everything that HE has done for us.
I think this was a good passage to chose for this time of year. Not only because of Christmas worries, but also because of finals. I know people are worn out with all of the stuff due and all of the studying and are worried about finals and grades. So speaking of worry, Matthew 6:25~27 and 6:31-34 says...
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air... your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?..."
"So do no worry, saying, 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
God cares about us and He takes awesome care of us. He is the one that we can count on to always do what is best for us. So don't worry. God is there to get us through it and He will give us rest when we are weary.
-"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."
I used to always believe that I was going to work so hard and so long that I would open my own business. I had my whole life planned out. I was going to have my business, and live alone and have this nice house and nice cars and have anything and everything that I ever wanted because I was going to be such a successfull businessman. Then after 2 years of college I see that I don't get to plan my life, God does. I dont have to think about my future, in fact my future has already changed. I dont even plan on going into business anymore.
A friend of mine once told me that God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called.
I have realized that my calling isnt business, and that I need not worry about planning my future because God will provide me with what I need.
"If you ever want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."
I think we all can relate to a change of our plans, no matter how big or small, to God's plans.
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