Come to Me and I Will Give You Rest
When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He often uttered this one inviting word: Come. "Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). “Allow the little children to come to Me…for of such is the kingdom of God.” (Mk 10:14) "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink" (John 7:37). The Lord is always inviting us to come to Him for rest and for life.
Not only does the Lord, on His part, graciously ask us to come; but we, on our part, have a desperate need to come because of the heavy burdens under which we labor. Ours is uniquely an age of anxiety - anxiety about natural disasters, anxiety from diseases and pandemics and the resulting chaos, anxiety from the threat of terrorism, anxiety over the uncertain economy. We wonder if we will be able to stay employed. We wonder if we will have enough food and medicine. We wonder what kind of world our children will inherit. Oh, how we need to come and relieve ourselves of so many burdens and anxieties!
We also have a desperate need to come because of the problem of sin. We know in our conscience that there is a holy God in this universe, and that we should live an upright and moral life. But we have a problem—we can't make it. We all have sinned against God and sinned against man countless times. So how can we come? What does Jesus require for us to come?
In a word—nothing! Jesus requires absolutely nothing, because He has already made a full provision for us to come. The Bible says that "all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). Nothing is required of us because He has borne the full punishment for our sins. We no longer bear the penalty for our sins because Jesus shed His blood and bore it all for us! He's paid the debt, so when we come, we can be assured our sins will be forgiven. He then resurrected from the dead and became the life-giving spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) so that He can come into us and be our inward peace and rest.
The Lord Jesus doesn't ask for good works; He doesn't ask for good character; He doesn't ask for evidence of worthiness—He just says "Come." And to those who come, He gives an unconditional promise: "him who comes to Me I shall by no means cast out" (John 6:37). All we need to do now is come to Him. And what does it mean to come? To come is to draw near to the Lord. To come is to call upon Him. To come is to believe into Him and receive Him.
The Lord is waiting for you to come just as you are this very moment. Come with your present sins. Come with your present fears. Come just as you are. Don't wait to improve yourself —that day will never come. Jesus' death on our behalf has filled up every lack of ours. There is no need to wait—just come. If you come, if you believe in Jesus, if you open your heart and cry out to Him, He will receive you. His promise is forever sure — "he who comes to Me I shall by no means cast out." Just come.
"Lord Jesus, I confess that I am sinful. I confess that I have fears and doubts, but I come to You now. I ask You to cleanse me from my sins by Your precious blood, and I believe Your promise that You will by no means cast me out. So just as I am, I come to You, and I know by Your word that You will receive me. I ask You to come into me. Lord Jesus, I just come that you may be my rest."
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