Matthew 11:29 | Rest For Your Soul
Matthew 11:29 ESV says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
This is one of my favorite invitations from the Lord because Jesus shows us his heart. All thoughts of Christ being condemning, harsh, or overbearing dissipate. He is gentle. His heart is humble. He desires that your soul would find rest.
This verse is like a big sigh of relief. I don’t often realize how much my soul needs deeper rest until I read verses like this or Psalm 23:3, which says, “He restores my soul.”
So often, we prepare ourselves to show up to meet with God only to find that he has been expecting our mess. He doesn’t expect us to have it all together when we come to him. He has rewritten the story from perfect religion to perfect grace. Now all who want to be near God only have to receive the invitation and follow.
Surrender is a necessary part of the process, and we can’t grow in our love of God if we don’t allow his Holy Spirit to discipline us, but God isn’t holding back his love from broken people. His heart is the exact opposite. God seeks out those who are ready to surrender. Think of all the people that Jesus healed and transformed through his ministry. Most were failures, outcasts, rejects, and poor. They didn’t have it all together, but they were desperate for God.
Perhaps Jesus’s invitation in Matthew 11:29 would reorient our hearts before God to realize that we need his rest. Instead of striving and pushing in our own strength, we learn to fall back into the grace of God.
Trust the heart of God today. His gentle words have the power to restore.
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