Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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 11:28-30

Imagine being on the road after a long day of work; you are far from home, exhausted, and hungry. You stumble across a quaint motel, looking for somewhere to sleep. When you arrive at the front counter, the clerk says, “I have some work that needs to be done. I want to teach you. It will give you all the rest you're looking for.” You’d maybe start laughing, thinking they were joking. Well, it seems like this is almost exactly what Jesus is saying in Matthew 11. Are you tired of working so hard and carrying a burden? Go ahead and pick up my work and burden instead, and you’ll find true rest. Why would Jesus suggest such a thing? 

Well, you see, the crowd Jesus was talking to was crippled and crushed by religiosity and laws. Through hierarchy and harshness, the Pharisees afflicted the people with countless rules and regulations to follow in order to try and obtain salvation. Under these impossible tasks, the people felt utterly burdened and exhausted. So, Jesus came, offering a new way and a new rest to them. He was not harsh, nor would He place Himself over them; instead, in humility, He was of all things—gentle and lowly. 

The work and burden of Jesus is not that of laws and regulations, but of freedom and forgiveness. It comes with responsibility, but the new yoke you must carry is not the crippling kind; rather, it is of one single and restoring responsibility: to love. Love God and love others. As the apostle John says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3)

We can sleep while not feeling rested, and we can rest when we aren’t sleeping. That’s one of the most powerful things about this verse. We don’t have to be in the perfect environment or the perfect state to experience this rest. Christ’s rest is always offered to us freely and fully—keyword: offered. 

You must receive this rest. Jesus says, “come to me.” Come to me all who are weary, exhausted, weighed down, burdened, overworked, over-hustled, and worn out, and you will find the rest you are looking for. So if you're tired and exhausted from the expectation you've placed on yourself, the perfection you think you can obtain, or the religion you’re wrestling with, I urge you to stop wrestling and start walking with Jesus. He asks us to learn from Him, to place His light work upon our shoulders, and to be restored through the rest He offers. Go to him. Learn from Him. Find your Rest.