Are you weary?

[0:00] Hello there. I wonder if you know these words that Jesus once said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

[0:14] I think you'd be hard-pressed today to find someone who isn't weary and burdened. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a level of stress and strain, which has left many of us feeling just worn out.

[0:30] And then, COVID aside, we may have personal issues particular to ourselves, which have left us feeling simply shattered as well.

[0:41] I'm sure we would all love a rest, a break from it all. But as good as that sounds, the invitation Jesus makes here offers us something way bigger and way better than simply taking a break or having a breather.

[0:58] The rest Jesus is talking about here is rest for our souls. Rest that means we will never be weary and burdened in that way ever again.

[1:10] How can that be? It's because Jesus says he offers a way back to God. Because it's actually in God that we find true rest.

[1:22] We were made to know God, to delight in God and to rest in him. A man called Augustine once prayed, You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.

[1:40] Other things that promise that they'll take away our weariness or remove the burden we feel is always on our back. They never quite seem to deliver, do they?

[1:52] Well, it's because they are not God. And if we don't know God, we don't have that true rest. So why is it Jesus offering us this rest?

[2:04] Well, it's because only he died on the cross, a sacrificial death that takes away all the guilt and all the shame from our lives. That guilt bars the way back to God, but with it removed, we are finally able to return to the only one in whom we can find rest.

[2:23] God himself, the one who made us for himself. And we find rest not just in this life, but in the one to come. He says, come to me and I will give you rest.

[2:38] So the only question is, are you weary? Are you burdened? Then come to Jesus and you will find rest.

[2:50] Thank you for listening.