"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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 NASB
We live in a very tense, uptight
and fast paced world filled with hurry and hassle. A Tahoma, Washington newspaper carried the
story of Tattoo the basset hound a while back. Tattoo didn’t intend to go for
an evening run, but when his owner shut the dog’s leash in the car door and took
off for a drive – with Tattoo still outside the vehicle, he had no choice.
Motorcycle officer Terry Filbert noticed a passing vehicle with something
dragging behind it. He commented that the poor basset hound was, “picking them
up and putting them down as fast as he could.” He chased the car to a stop, and
Tattoo was rescued. But not before the dog had reached a top speed of 25 miles
per hour, falling down and rolling over several times. Too many of us are
living our lives like Tattoo, picking them up and putting them down as fast as
we can – rolling around & feeling dragged through life.
Time magazine noted that back in
the 60’s, expert testimony was given to a Senate sub-committee on time
management. They predicted that advances
in technology would radically change how many hours a week people worked. They forecasted that the average American
would be working 22 hours a week within 20 years. “The great challenge,” the experts said,
“would be figuring out what to do with all the excess time.” Over 40 years later, after major advances in
technology – how many of us are wondering what to do with all the excess time
on our hands?
Our world has become the world of
the Red Queen of Alice and Wonderland:
“Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same
place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast
as that.”
How many of us feel like that?
Let’s take a group quiz to see how many of us are being dragged through life.
Fill in the blanks:
- I’m ready to throw in the…
- I’m at the end of my…
- I’m just a bundle of…
- My life is falling…
- I’m at my wit’s…
- I feel like resigning from
the human…
Apparently we’re all experiencing
the rat race. Just when you thought you were getting ahead, along come faster
rats. But remember, he who wins the rat race is still a rat.
We need to learn how to experience
rest. If all we needed was physical rest
we can always take a nap. If we needed
only emotional rest, we can always take a vacation. But where can we find spiritual rest…rest for
our souls? How can we obtain relief
regarding the deepest issues of life at the deepest level of our hearts? The more things change the more they stay the
same.
Jesus spoke to this very issue
2000 years ago in Matthew 11:28-30. There are relevant
things we can learn from this timeless passage.
For now, let’s admit that we need to review Christ’s words.
Scripture to
Claim:
It is vain for you to
rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives
to His beloved even in his sleep. Psalms 127:2
