"Come To Me..."
Last night in High School Youthgroup we talked shortly about Matthew 11:25-30. These passages are not only close to my heart because they were some of the first verses in the Bible that actually meant something to me when I first began my journey, but they're also so very profound and important in our context.
The message is not something that can be forced or coerced, controlled or wielded. It is all in God's hands, He chooses to whom it will and will not go. And so even as we stand helplessly hoping that God will choose us, give us the chance to receive the message, Jesus surprises us with grace and calls out "come to me!" And He calls it to "all..."
"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." The difficulty in this is that we must give God room to give us rest, we must step aside and abandon our need to be in control of everything. We must be like "little children." We must lay down our presupposition that tells us that we must "measure up" in some way and "meet expectations." Indeed the expectations are quite low for Christ's call is not about measuring up or meeting any standard at all, it's not an obligation but a freedom. In Christ we are not obligated but free to serve, free to love, free to find rest in his gentle and humble spirit and to then mirror that image for the world. That is Christ's "command." He commands us to find rest in him and to live gentle, humble, generous and loving lives which flow out from the rest our souls have found.
"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.Jesus' message is for the open-hearted who compose a population transcendent of educational savvy and social status. Jesus' message is, in fact, dangerous in the hands of the hard-hearted no matter how "wise and learned" they may be. And the message, the heart of Jesus' truth, is best found in the hands of "little children." It is to these that God has delighted in offering the message.
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 message is not something that can be forced or coerced, controlled or wielded. It is all in God's hands, He chooses to whom it will and will not go. And so even as we stand helplessly hoping that God will choose us, give us the chance to receive the message, Jesus surprises us with grace and calls out "come to me!" And He calls it to "all..."
"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." The difficulty in this is that we must give God room to give us rest, we must step aside and abandon our need to be in control of everything. We must be like "little children." We must lay down our presupposition that tells us that we must "measure up" in some way and "meet expectations." Indeed the expectations are quite low for Christ's call is not about measuring up or meeting any standard at all, it's not an obligation but a freedom. In Christ we are not obligated but free to serve, free to love, free to find rest in his gentle and humble spirit and to then mirror that image for the world. That is Christ's "command." He commands us to find rest in him and to live gentle, humble, generous and loving lives which flow out from the rest our souls have found.
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