rest for the weary

"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."
Jesus

My guess is that if you were to survey a group of Christians to see if this passage accurately represented the way they feel as a result of their faith in Christ and involvement in their local church, the results would be less than favorable. In fact if I were a gambler I would lay fat wad of cash that this is the case.

Why is it that so often the things that Jesus speaks of, promises, and personally exemplifies and represents, end up foreign to our modern day Christian experience? Could it be that Jesus' life and teachings are so radical and counter cultural that often his own followers and the very institution that claims to represent him, find it hard to believe and teach such radical claims? Has Christianity become more about us and our agenda rather than about Him and His mission? As a result who is it that benefits and who is it that suffers?

When we water down, change or alter the message of Jesus in any way, everyone loses. The Church has done a great job of telling people what their responsibilities are and what it means to be "radical" for Christ. We are reminded that the "faithful" are those who are at Church every time the doors are open and who serve in 12 different ministries.

As a result we have become a very religious people and religion makes you tired and sometimes bitter and mean as well. Jesus confronted religion and the one's who taught such things and put such heavy loads on people in the process. Look at what he said about them...

"They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'"

So what am I saying, what should we do? How about we begin by following Jesus and His Word? Let's be sure that our focus is His focus. If this is the case, then we should experience joy, freedom, fullness of life and rest for our souls.

If you are spiritually tired I would suggest you ask yourself a few questions.
-Why are you doing the things you are doing? Out of passion or obligation?
-Who are you trying to please? Jesus or someone else?
-Are you doing too much? If so, prayerfully consider what should go.
-Jesus is gentle and humble in heart, is that represented by those in leadership of the fellowship you attend? If not, find somewhere else to go.
-Lastly, are you motivated by love?

We love Him because He first loved us. His love is unconditional. For those of us who know Him, we should know that we are accepted and loved, not because of what we do or don't do but because we belong to Him.

May His love motivate us to do what we do and may His love allow us to accept ourselves just as He accepts us. Find rest in Him, for His yoke is easy and His burden in light.

Oh and sorry for the month between posts...I needed rest.

Grace and peace.