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Stop. Come and Rest!

 

"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, 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.

 

 "Come and Rest" is a powerful invitation to release our burdens and find soul-rest in God's presence, attributed and rooted in the Gospel of Matthew 11:28. In this Text we are invited in the act of trust where we stop striving, step back from our daily busyness, and allow God to restore us. This text was also the theme for this year's World Day of Prayer was "I Will Give You Rest: Come." This theme "explores divine rest from creation to Jesus' time, examining wisdom traditions and Jesus’ transformation of rest from rigid rules to liberating mercy." "The 2026 World Day of Prayer materials from Nigeria bring us a powerful invitation drawn from Matthew 11:28-30. At a time when people worldwide are carrying heavy burdens, our Nigerian sisters offer profound insights into finding rest in God. Through their exploration of different kinds of burdens - shame, systemic oppression, religious persecution, poverty and despair - the writers help us understand both the weight of human suffering and the depths of divine rest. Their work shows us that true rest isn't just about physical relief, but about transformation through God's grace and community support." Please read more in this link to get inspired: https://worlddayofprayer.net/index.html. 

 

I'd like to restate how important this message is and right for us in this season of summer. As we can see at the moment right now in our world, we are so encumbered with quite a bit of  'keep moving' kind of idea, really!  And we live in a hustle age where everyone is, 'I'm too busy!!!!' syndrome. We now tailor our hope in God and have to optimize our faith, optimize our brands to show-off, optimize our theology to please, optimize ministry metrics to please fellow humans and not God, play church politics and get-away with it, etc. From all of these, many of us Christians now feel tired and exhausted from trying to earn our church's or community's approval and at the same time want God's approval about our identity in Him. Oh sorry, this can't add up. While those of us on the pulpits try hard to preach the gospel of truth, we are caught in the middle and find ourselves with critiques and moments as preachers, or with our worship styles that have to be 'quick' and 'fast' to give room for coffee-time. Regardless, our role is to show love and to shepherd NOT to undermine the grace of God for everyone. We are all created in God's own image, so it is for us in service to all humanity.

 

As Church of God in the world, we might sometimes reject what God is doing because it doesn't match our preferred playlist; in fact, to simply put, nothing might even be right for us - and we don't even know what we want. But what matters to Jesus is that our perception should be about His work in the world bearing fruit, not just flavours. We have to stop seeing ourselves as "fixers", but rather as those responsible to carry His message of hope; who solely rely on Him for everything! 

 

This Gospel of Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 teaches us that wisdom can only be seen in transformed lives. This is the crux of this message. And Jesus is saying here, Stop. Come and Rest!  

 

You might know a lot about God and still don't know if you need repentance, healing from restoration, reconciliation with those you wrong or those who have wronged you or if you need to understand what justice is to thrive in God's kingdom. Many of us are fed up with the affairs of life but we undermine the efficacy in the infallible word of God to fix our problems. Sometimes our case is like the two fellows on the road to Emmaus who fail to see Jesus walking along with them on the same road. The truth is, Jesus meets weary people, He wants them to take solace and comfort in Him, and to give them rest when they seek Him - in whatever circumstances. Jesus's words in Matthew 11:28-30 might be punchy to the 1st-century followers, but these words are still medicine for us in 2026 with a number of us struggling with loneliness, grief, anxiety, burnout, and mental health issues. In Jesus' day that "Yoke" He is talking about was heavy rules with 613 commandments plus numerous traditions and legalisms. But He came to 'disrupt' this system to show His people (and us) that finding rest is no brainer. Just simple faith to walk along with Him - It's that easy! But tough for those who doubt in the efficacy of who God is.

 

So today, "Rest" for us as 21st century Christians is Jubilee, Sabbath, and Freedom from laws, rules that gag us from embodying our identity in Christ Jesus. "Rest" for us is now peace where He is saying, "Do it with Me, at My peace, in My gentleness."  That's why 'We' as believers in Jesus now have the free access and permission to feel free to allow our stressful life to find that peace in Him. We need to drop the heavy yoke of  'I have to fix everything by myself' and pick up the easy yoke of walking with Jesus today to find peace and rest for our souls. It's time for renewal in body, mind, spirit and on our faith journey with God; let's go for it.

 

Thanks be to God. Amen. 

 

With every blessing,

 

Rev Wilson