This is a second post in the series, Love Letter to the Brokenhearted. I will post a link at the bottom to the first one in case you have not yet read it.
If you are happy with your continual striving to please God this is not for you. But if you continually try to please God only to find that you are never certain you do, and are stressed out wondering if you are truly on the correct path then read on. It saddens me to see all the people who are striving to the point of being completely burned out to be obedient, to be a good saint, to help the church cause, to give enough, to win the favor of leadership, and on and on. This is not new. There were many in the first century in Jesus time that were under the same pressure. That is why Jesus spoke the words recorded in Matthew 11:28-30. There were then, and are now, a multitude of folks that were weary and burdened. If you are like a rat or mouse on a wheel, chasing you're not sure what. Get off!
The yoke of a disciple is easy and the burden is light. Too many leaders keep people on a treadmill, and dangle in front of them a carrot on a stick. You will be blessed if you do this. Your work will be rewarded and on and on. All the while, the leaders are not doing what they are supposed to do. What are they supposed to do you ask? They are supposed to be proclaiming the gospel, (God's Good News.) Instead, they ignorantly continue to try to keep you from sinning. They focus on sin. They focus on works. They focus on disobedience. They focus on God's wrath. They focus on what you must do to be in right standing with the Father. THEY SELDOM FOCUS ON THE GOOD NEWS!
Yet Jesus is saying come unto me and I will give you rest. Rest from what? Rest from striving. Rest from fear of the Father. Rest from a sense of failure. Rest from worry. This is why Paul spoke these words to the Corinthian saints. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses to them, and instead made the one who knew no sin to be made sin for the sinner, that the sinner might become the righteousness of God.... How so, by God's declaration!
There is so much misunderstanding about preaching. There is so much misunderstanding about the calling and mission of a preacher. The New Testament forcefully states that they should only preach the gospel. Preaching is not yelling at people. We have a connotation today of the word preach to be scolding. When the New Testament says go into the world and preach, it means proclaim. Shout it from the rooftops. Proclaim what? PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL! It is the ministry of reconciliation. The reconciliation is complete. Paul says tell people they HAVE BEEN RECONCILED to God. That is part of God's love letter to humanity. It is not presented often enough. Sure those who have ignorantly preached a different gospel, or something different then the gospel will be judged for that. One day they will give account, and realize their error, however that does not help the multitudes who have been brow beaten, and wearied, and burdened.
Just rest! You have been reconciled to God! Demand that your leaders dwell on the truth and proclaim the gospel. I guarantee that if they truly proclaim the good news that people will work and not be weary. They will strive out of love and not be burdened. They will run to assembling to hear the good news, and the Holy Spirit will use the good news to transform saints into the image of Christ.
If you are weary and burdened, it is not Christ that has caused it. It is men. REST!
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