When Jesus says that you will find rest for your soul, He doesn’t mean sleep. He’s saying, “I will put an end to your inner turmoil. Bring your hurts and fears, your regrets and disappointments, your anxieties and your inadequacies to Me. Bring the pressures and troubles of your life to Me. I will give you peace that passes understanding. My peace I give you.”

This rest is Christ’s gift. It is not a process. It is not like a prescription or a formula that could be obtained from different sources. It is the gift of the living Christ to you.

J. C. Ryle in his book Old Paths says, “Rest such as this is the privilege of all believers in Christ. Some know more of it and some less; some feel it only at distant intervals, and some feel it almost always; few enjoy the sense of it without many a battle with unbelief, and many a conflict with fear. But all who truly come to Christ know something of this rest.”

Let the weight of your burdens draw you to the Saviour today. As your load becomes heavier, you have more reason to come to Him. The wearier you become, the more you need to yoke yourself to Christ. This is a marvellous way to view the pressures of your life. Use them as a reason to draw near to Christ today.

Will you take the Saviour at His word today? Will you come to Him and receive what He offers?

Jesus is saying the same thing in two different ways. We know that because He makes the same promise: “I will give you rest…You will find rest for your souls.”

What do we have to do to find this rest? The condition is stated in two different ways. “Come to me,” and “Take my yoke upon you.” These are two ways of saying the same thing—come to Christ and commit to Him. Coming to Christ involves taking His yoke upon you.

The yoke was a wooden beam that tied two animals together so that they walked and worked in tandem. Be very careful who you get yoked to. In business, in friendship, and supremely in marriage, ask, “What am I tying myself to?”

Jesus says, “Bind yourself to Me. Walk with Me.” Coming to Christ means taking His yoke upon you. This sounds like it is going to be tough. Maybe you are thinking, I am struggling enough as it is, and now you are telling me that Jesus wants to put some yoke around my neck?

Do you think your life would be easier without Christ? Do you feel that if you cut loose from Christ, then your restless heart would finally be free? Are you afraid that if you follow Him, He will lay some great load on you? As long as you think this you will never come to Him.

Listen to what Jesus says: “I am gentle and lowly in heart… My yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (11:29–30). It’s the way of the sinner that is hard. To be yoked to Christ means that the Son of God pulls your load with you.

What could be better than to be yoked to Jesus Christ and have Him pull your load with you?

Notice that there is something for you to do: “Come to me.” Either you will do this, or you won’t, and Jesus says your experience depends on this.

Jesus doesn’t say, “Practise spiritual disciplines.” He was speaking to the most religious people in the world whose faith had become a burden. They were doing their best to live godly lives, but they felt crushed by their own attempts at pleasing God.

Is that you? Are you burdened by the sheer pressure of trying to live a good life? Maybe you are doing your best, but your life is a relentless treadmill and you are weary.

Conservative wisdom says that you find rest by living a moral, disciplined life. Liberal wisdom says that you find rest by following the impulses of your own heart. But this rests on the massive assumption that your heart knows good from evil. Follow the impulses of your own heart and your life will always be restless.

You won’t find rest in spiritual disciplines or in your heart. Jesus says, “Come to Me and I will give you rest!” Why doesn’t He say, “Believe in Me and I will give you rest?” The word “believe” might leave the impression that it’s all in the mind.

When Christ says, “Come to me,” He indicates that there is movement. The prodigal son was in the far country until one day he said, “I will arise and go to my father” (Luke 15:18). That’s more than believing.

Were you under the impression that Jesus’ rest comes to you automatically, or only as a result of more effort (e.g. spiritual disciplines)?