“Come to Me” Unpacking Jesus’ Paradoxical Invitation
To Rest or Work?
I love invitations. Last year, I issued many invitations to several events: a girlfriend getaway with my three oldest friends, my book launch party, and Bill’s and my 40th wedding anniversary party. The people who showed up to celebrate with me made these events spectacular. Receiving invitations is equally delightful. I received invitations to several weddings and baby and bridal showers. I bet you enjoy invitations too. We feel included—wanted—when someone invites us to be at an event or even to just go for coffee.
The Lord issues many invitations in Scripture, but one of the most popular we find in the book of Matthew. “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). Who hasn’t felt worn out, burdened, or overworked?! If you’ve never felt that way, please, write a book. I want to read your secret. But until that book gets published, let’s learn how to receive this sweet invitation from the Lord.
First, how do we come to Him? By faith (Hebrews 11:6). And not a simple belief in God in general, the demons believe in God and tremble (James 2:19). No rest for them! Look at the last part of Hebrews 11:6, “for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Do you believe Jesus is God, and He rewards those who seek Him? If not, you need to seek Jesus for salvation. Believe He is the one and only way to God the Father. He says to us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). This includes you. If you’ve never trusted Jesus to forgive your sin and give you new life, you can never come to Him for rest or anything else. I pray you will stop right now and ask Jesus to save you.
For those of us who have a relationship with Jesus, how do we enjoy His presence?
As followers of Jesus, we’re encouraged to read our Bibles, pray, attend church, and do Bible study. And while all of that is good advice, it’s easy to reduce our role as a disciple to a to-do list. We check the boxes but often don’t feel connected. Boredom sets in for some. Others become rigid in their practice and legalistic about what a Christian must do. It can also induce guilt if we don’t get our devotions done. Jesus doesn’t want to be put on our to-do list or reduced to disciplines. He calls us into a relationship as His disciple, His friend, and, best of all, His sisters. Devotion to Christ isn’t a 30-minute quiet Bible reading and prayer time. Devotion to God is a new, restful, abundant way of living.
Think about relating to your siblings. Do you share memories with them? Do you have fun and enjoy meals together? Do you disagree with them at times? Did you ever fight? Jesus wants these same interactions with us. He invites us to come to Him as a person. It’s okay to wrestle with God. Jacob did! If religious exercises have burnt you out, His invitation is for you. We cannot reduce friendship to a chore and expect it to be satisfying. That’s what the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ time had done and what they expected others to do, earn their way to be with God. But Jesus is inviting us to come to be with Him.
The Lord creates us all differently, with unique spiritual love languages. In his book Sacred Pathways: Developing your Soul’s Path to God, Gary Thomas identifies nine different ways people love God and draw near to him (these are all ways Jesus related to His Father). Here’s a summary:
1. Naturalist: John 6:3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, Mat. 6 Look at the birds of the air, and the flowers of the field. He wants us to pay attention to how He uses nature to illustrate His truth. Do you like going outside to be with God? Do you see your Creator most clearly in creation?
2. Sensate: Consider how God lead Solomon to build the temple. Think about the beautiful sights, sounds, and incense fragrance. We heard Jesus remind us to look. The Bible tells us to taste and see the Lord’s goodness. Jesus at the last supper said this wine is the new covenant; this bread is my body. When you taste good food, do you taste the goodness of God? Do you draw near God when you see beautiful things or hear beautiful music?
3. Traditionalist: Luke 2:41 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. Do stained glass, the ritual of communion, and witnessing a baptism transport you into God’s presence?
4. Ascetic: Mark 1:35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place, and there He prayed. Do solitude and simplicity provide the best space for you to relate to God?
5. Activist: Jesus overturned the tables in the temple, “It is written my house shall be a house of prayer, and you have turned it into a den of thieves!” Do you sense God’s delight as you stand in a protest for the right to life or against racism? Do God’s justice, and a desire for justice energize you?
6. Caregiver: John the Baptist sent his followers to ask if Jesus was the Messiah. Listen to Jesus’ answer in Mat. 11: 4 – 5, “Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” And don’t forget the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000. Do you love cooking and cleaning, and serving people in need? Jesus did too!
7. Enthusiast: Luke 19:37-40 reveals Jesus defending the celebration of His deity. In the law God gave to Moses, the Lord created feasts that included loud music, great food, and celebratory worship. Do you love to party with God at Christian concerts and worship services? Do you enjoy celebrating Him by dancing or singing?
8. Contemplatives: Listen to Christ’s prayer in John 17“As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” Can you hear His contemplation of the mystery of the trinity? Do you love just pondering the character of God? His love? His majesty? His power?
9. Intellectual: In Luke 2:46, we find Jesus sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Jesus, the Living Word of God, studied with the rabbis. Do inductive Bible Study and a good exposition of the Bile simulate you to worship?
This list is not exhaustive. God is infinite, and as a result, we experience His presence in many ways. Rest in how He created you to enjoy being with Him. Maybe you prefer singing Scripture to reading it or meditating deeply on a tiny phrase rather than reading large portions. Variety is vital in every good relationship, and our relationship with God is no different. Meet with Him in various ways at different times. But do come to Him!
What does He invite us to? Rest! Yes, but what kind of rest? For years I’d come to this promise and stop at the end of Matthew 11:28 and beg the Lord to let me sleep or nap or stop spinning plates. Then I wondered why He didn’t seem to be listening to me. I’d ask, not receive, and wonder if God was a promise keeper. But I discovered the problem wasn’t God. He didn’t give a faulty invitation. The problem was me. As James puts it (James 4:3), I was asking amiss. I coveted my concept of rest, but that’s not what Jesus offers.
Jesus offers us a paradox, a holy mystery of abundant living. Listen, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29 – 30). He wants us to rest while we work. To learn to be gentle as we work, not stressed out and impatient (which I so often was and at times still am). Harshness results from hurry. I once heard a Bible scholar say the one word he believes best describes Jesus is unhurried. Are you unhurried?
Unhurried is unworried. When we’re anxious, we’re not resting. Jesus never worried about time. Jairus’s daughter was dying or dead, but instead of rushing off to Jiarus’ house, Jesus stopped to assure a critically ill woman that her faith made her well, not the hem of His robe. She came to Him weary, spent, and completely depleted, but she reached out to touch Him and found rest and restoration. She met the person who took the time to know her personally. Wow! And then Jesus strolled to Jiarus’ to raise his daughter from the dead. No matter how long God seems to take, He is never too late. Can you settle your heart on that reality and learn to work at His pace, not yours? That’s what He’s inviting us to, His “unforced rhythm of grace” (as it’s paraphrased in the Message Bible).
I’m learning to come to Jesus in more ways and more often than just once a day. I’m learning to listen for His still, small voice and feel the rhythm of Him walking beside me as His easy yoke embraces me to work with Him. I’m being His child and walking with Him. As I do, I’m finding the rest I craved for so long. I’m being His child and walking with Him.
I know this blog is long, but I trust that if you read it unhurried, you will discover and receive the fantastic offer Jesus sets before us every moment of every day!
A song by Sandra McCracken: Come To Me