OCTOBER 23

“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.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

How did you get on last week? Did you take your bags to the foot of the cross, and leave them there? I know, it's not that straightforward - we've all been there - are perhaps there at the moment. Our get up and go has long got up and gone! We've carried too many problems - too many burdens, too long. Heads spinning, we're feeling totally exhausted - drained, physically, emotionally and spiritually. We've handled, tolerated, done, forgiven and worked 'one more time,' until we don't have a 'one more' in us.

We're a bit like King David's men in 1 Sam. (well worth a read). All we want to do is find a shady spot, kick off our shoes, lie back and recover with a cup of cold water. Well, that's alright. If it was good enough for David and some of his men, it's good enough for us.

Jesus is our David - our Brook Besor. Like David, Jesus endorses our rest by resting with us. After all our foot-slogging, baggage toting, suitcase lugging years, we have reassurance. He fights when we can't. He picks up our bags when we drop them. He understands and says, "Come off by yourselves; let's take a break and a little rest" (Mark 6:31 MSG) – notice? Jesus says “let us take a break” - He rests with us. Rest is a gift - unearned, undeserved.

But, what is in those bags we spoke about last week? Lack of contentment. Dissatisfaction? Because that's one thing we're not. We're not satisfied. We push back from the table, pat our round bellies and state satisfaction - but look at us a few hours later - in the kitchen, picking at the left-overs. After a good night's sleep we hop out of bed - couldn't go back to sleep if we were paid. Satisfied for a while, but come night time, watch us crawl back between the sheets. We take the holiday of a life-time, planned and saved for for years. Sun, fun, good food; but we're not even on the way home before we dread the end of the trip and start planning for another! We're not satisfied.

As children we want to be in our teens. As teenagers we can't wait 'till we're adults. As adults we wish for the moon, marriage and children. Still it goes on - the empty nest syndrome - gran and grandad wishing they could turn back the clock and be young again, because 'those were the days!' We're not satisfied, and never will be, until we learn to 'pack light.' But we don't. How crazy is that! (Adapted from Max Lucado's writings).

The Lord can do no more than offer to take the bags from us. How much effort will it take for us to reach out and accept?

Go on, get the rest you deserve! Start now by clicking on the picture, and relax to the music - “In His Time” - Selah

       

     Housekeeping details for you

     The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

     A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here