{"id":2925,"date":"2025-03-29T00:51:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T00:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stevehusting.com\/alivetogod\/?p=2925"},"modified":"2025-05-21T03:47:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T03:47:40","slug":"come-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevehusting.com\/alivetogod\/come-to-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Come to Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To us who are still loaded down with the cares of life, with its many distractions, with the endless to-do\u2019s driving us with no end in sight, Jesus\u2019 offer still stands: \u201cCome to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest\u201d (Matthew 11:28<\/a>, NKJV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps we cannot come to Him because our goal in life is quite different from \u201crest.\u201d We want to achieve. We want the best. We need money. We need a friendly face. We have some place we want to be and rest won\u2019t get us there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, it will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Sometimes our goals don\u2019t work for us because they are pointing us in the wrong direction. Or our goals are unrealistic or premature. The rest Jesus offers is to calibrate your life so the life goals are so much better than you think. They will be so much better with Jesus in them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will give you rest.\u201d The rest will come through knowing a Person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Creator of everything that was made at the beginning. He made you. He knows what makes you tick. He knows what He made you for. Himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus calls to those who are laboring and are heavy laden. Why? Because they know more than anyone that this is not the life they signed up for. They are more ready to try something new than the complacent and satisfied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am writing this primarily to Christians, but those not of the Christian faith can benefit from this as well. After all, Jesus is the Savior of all who believe. He wants all to come to Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does this \u201cCome to Me\u201d entail? Jesus gives us the details: \u201cTake My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls\u201d (v. 29). A yoke<\/a>, in Jesus\u2019 agricultural culture, was equipment laid on the necks of cattle and attached to a plow to dredge the land for planting. Jesus wants us to be hitched next to Him. That sounds scary, but don\u2019t worry\u2014He said He\u2019s gentle and humble, lowly. He will work at our level. After all, though He is the Creator God, He had already humbled Himself to come to earth as a human being, and meet the people around them where they\u2019re at. He will work with you. No hard driving. No whips. <\/em><\/strong>\u201cFor My yoke is easy and my burden is light\u201d (v. 30). It means keeping in step with Him, staying close to Him at all times. The yoke ties you both together to do the same work, to go in the same direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s all metaphor, right? What does it look like in the real world? \u201cLearn from Me\u201d (v. 30). That means to get into the Bible in a fresh way. Look for Jesus in it. Start reading at \u201cMatthew\u201d (see the Bible\u2019s Table of Contents) and work your way through. Look at how gentle and humble Jesus is. How powerful. How authoritative. What else do you learn about Jesus? Chapter by chapter, write down your observations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you evaluate the wealth of material on Jesus and apply it to your life, you might find out why trusting and imitating Jesus \u201cyou will find rest for your souls.\u201d Jesus was God on earth. Jesus has power over demons. Over nature and the weather. Over sickness and disease. He has authority over the religious, military, and all other rulers. His followers were in safe hands with Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a clearer picture of Jesus walking alongside you, you can understand how God is walking beside you, and this decreases your worries. God is stronger than your tribulations. God has power over your troubles. God has a plan for your trials. Nothing is too big for Jesus. Nothing is too hard for God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those furrows being dredged by the plow with Jesus guiding you are revealing issues on the landscape of your soul. They are revealing secrets you never knew. \u201cSo that\u2019s why I\u2019m that way.\u201d Don\u2019t shy away. We are all sinners. Jesus came to make sinners whole, all who yield to Him as Lord over their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without Jesus, you fall back on yourself. Your weaknesses. Your inabilities. Your shortcomings. Where did your education get you? Your upbringing? Your wealth or lack of it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking His yoke on you means to accept Him as an authority over you, giving Him permission to lead you in a new way you haven\u2019t learned before. Let Him be Lord of your life. Be a student of Jesus. Read the Bible and let His Spirit teach you. Confess your sins to Him and trust Him to show you how they are overcome. It\u2019s all in the Bible. Just take it in, one page a day or one chapter at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you read the Bible slowly and carefully, ask yourself:
\u201cIs there a promise for me to hold on to?\u201d
\u201cDo I need to give something up?\u201d
\u201cIs there something for me to believe God for?\u201d
\u201cWhat is Jesus is telling me to act on?\u201d
\u201cIs there an important verse to memorize?\u201d
\u201cWho am I in God\u2019s eyes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this way, His Word becomes the \u201cyoke\u201d that steers you on the path of righteousness, the path of blessing. Your thinking is yoked to His way of thinking. Your work is yoked to the way He would work. Your beliefs are yoked to His faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t be surprised when you find answers as you read and ponder carefully (but not if you skim casually). With the answers, you\u2019ll realize the Lord is speaking to you and leading you. This should reassure you more and more, that God has His eye on you for good. Then you can relax. Then you\u2019ll find rest for your soul. You thought God would be mean and demanding, but now He\u2019s gentle and lowly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then you\u2019ll be following in the footsteps of millions of Christians who decided to live for Jesus and not themselves. Their outside world does not hold them captive as before. Their lusts and sins are not as enticing as before. Instead of being yoked to their sins, they are yoked to Jesus–and that makes all the difference.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To us who are still loaded down with the cares of life, with its many distractions, with the endless to-do\u2019s driving us with no end in sight, Jesus\u2019 offer still stands: \u201cCome to Me, all you who labor and are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[482],"tags":[519],"class_list":["post-2925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement","tag-matthew"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevehusting.com\/alivetogod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevehusting.com\/alivetogod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevehusting.com\/alivetogod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevehusting.com\/alivetogod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevehusting.com\/alivetogod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2925"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stevehusting.com\/alivetogod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2941,"href":"https:\/\/stevehusting.com\/alivetogod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925\/revisions\/2941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevehusting.com\/alivetogod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevehusting.com\/alivetogod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevehusting.com\/alivetogod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}