My three-year-old daughter, Kristen, has adopted a strange new habit.
Every morning now she comes downstairs, and after breakfast goes straight into the kitchen and right to one drawer in particular. She methodically pulls every single utensil out of this particular drawer, and insists that I put them all in a plastic bag with handles for her. All day long, until the time I need to confiscate the utensils in order to cook dinner, she lugs that bag around the house. I have yet to see her take any of the items out of the bag in an attempt to use them or even to play with them – she is just determined to carry around a bag that is half her size, for seemingly no reason at all.
And even stranger is the fact that she has never really given me a reason why she does it.
Isn’t it funny how we as Christians can be the same way? How often do we needlessly struggle with baggage that God has promised to take from us? Maybe it’s a vice that we just can’t seem to get rid of once and for all. Maybe we can’t seem to overcome our habitual worrying – about finances, our children, our health, our jobs. We carry these burdens around with us, living a less than joyful life, often because we can’t seem to take our focus off of them.
But in Matthew 11:29-30, Jesus tells us “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Adam Clarke’s commentary on this passage implies four things that speak directly to us:
1. Sinners, wearied in the ways of iniquity, are invited to come to Christ, and find speedy relief.
2. Penitents, burdened with the guilt of their crimes, may accept the Lord’s sacrifice, and find instant pardon.
3. Believers who are sorely tempted, and oppressed by the remains of the carnal mind, may come to this blood that cleanses from all unrighteousness; and, purified from all sin, shall find uninterrupted rest in Jesus Christ the Saviour.
4. All are invited to come, and all are promised rest. If few find rest from sin, it is because few come to Christ to receive it.
Let us unload our bagful of burdens, one at a time, to Him and Him alone, today.
