Matthew 11 

•  Are you tired?
• Are you overwhelmed by life?
• Are you stressed?

More so than any time in history,  we live in a society, which runs at an unsustainable pace.  There are more things demanding our time.  People have constant access to us. There's no way to escape the pressure.

• There's always another soccer practice
• There's always another email to respond to
• There's always another text coming in
• There's always another opportunity to serve
• There's always another opportunity you don't want to miss
• There's always another diet you want to start

The list of demands and distractions never ends.  No wonder most of us feel tired, overwhelmed, and stressed out. Making matters worse is that many of us aren't very good at making time to rest.  We're not designed to be pulled in so many different directions.

Jesus Addresses the Weary

Matthew 11

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

At the time Jesus said these words the world was much simpler.  Most people knew very little of the world outside of their village.  If you wanted to talk to someone you had to see them in person.  So many of the things, which cause us stress, didn't exist for them.   Still people were weary and struggled to rest.

 Jesus promises to give rest, but requires something us first.

• "Come to me" - In order to find our rest in Christ, we must turn to Him.  We don't find rest by doing more work. We must actively pursue Christ.
• "Take my yoke" - Jesus doesn't promise to remove all struggles and work from our life.  Instead He offers to trade working for this world for working with Him.  While the World's yoke will run you down, His yoke is light and easy. We must take up His yoke.
• "Learn from me" - Jesus way is the best way.  We spend so much of our time chasing after things of this world, which do not satisfy and leave us tired.  Perhaps there is a better way. We must be teachable. 

The secret to finding our rest in Christ is daily making the decision to do each of these things.  Each day you must come to Christ ready to learn from Him.  When we're setting our priorities, we should turn to Christ and His wisdom to guide us.  When we look at our finances, we should come to Christ and learn from His Word.  This is how we find true rest.  

Prayer

God help me to come to you daily and present the day to you.  Help me to turn over my yoke to you, and willfully offer to take up your yoke.  Help me to surrender my own understanding, and trust your Word instead.  

Amen 

  Sean Chandler | Associate Pastor

Sean has been a part of the association of Hill Country Bible Churches for over twenty years. He received Christ as a youth while attending Hill Country Bible Church Austin. He attended Hill Country Bible Church NW from 1989 to 2002. At that time he began attending HCBC Pflugerville. He served as a student ministry intern there for two years. In 2008, Sean graduated from Columbia International University with a double major in Bible and Bible teaching. Sean married his wife, Jennifer, in 2006. Their first child, Liam, was born in 2012, and their second, Chloe, was born in 2014.

He blogs regularly at seanchandler.net.