If you have any propensity for music, you know what it is like to have a song stick in your mind. Sometimes it is a melody line that you just can’t seem to shake. Or it may be a lyric that repeats itself again and again in your head. But when a songwriter combines a captivating melody with inspiring lyrics, you are doomed. That has been my plight over the past couple months as a song titled “Come to Me”, written by Scott Baker and distributed by EarReverent Music, has been used in worship at our church. The lyrics come from Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28-30. Here is how Scott has chosen to present that message musically:
Behold my child
my chosen beloved
the pleasure of my soul
I will put my Spirit upon Him
to bring justice and hope to the world
Come to me (all who are heavy-laden)
Come to me (weary of being your best)
Come and take this easy burden
and I will give you rest
This question keeps running through my mind: What exactly is the easy burden? Do you find being yoked to Jesus an experience you would characterize as “easy” or “restful”? Or would you at times describe your Christian life as a “burden” which causes you to feel “heavy-laden”? Evidently Jesus found Himself surrounded by people who were of the “heavy-laden” camp because He addressed them specifically in this passage (“Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden…”). And if I am brutally honest, I find a lot in the Christian life that makes me weary and heavy-laden myself. Obviously Jesus did not intend the life of a disciple to be this way. His words make that clear. So what are we doing wrong?
Here are a couple possibilities I have come up with. First, the burden isn’t easy because we are trying to be good. Scott Baker calls it “weary of being your best.” When we find ourselves trying to measure up to a self-imposed performance standard, there is no possible outcome but weariness. The answer to this laborious approach to the Christian life is found, I believe, in the opening lyrics to the song. We are the chosen of God, beloved by Him, and endowed with His Spirit. God loves us just as we are, and could never love us more no matter how “good” we are able to be. So our task is to live in that Spirit and relax in the knowledge that we are the beloved of our Creator, and we are totally accepted by Him because we have the righteousness of Christ Himself.
A second mistake we make that can bring weariness to our souls is to accept someone else’s idea of what our lives ought to look like, and hammer ourselves because we don’t measure up. The whole issue of personal evangelism is a good example. You have heard this kind of directed application, or read it, I am sure. “You should be sharing your faith with everyone you meet.” Or this one: “Not everyone has the gift of evangelism, but everyone is called to evangelize; so get out lead someone to Christ.” For some, this is an invigorating message, but for others such a call can bring about feelings of failure and a guilt-ridden existence. I don’t want to minimize the scriptural admonition to be ready to defend your faith and explain the hope that it within you (1 Peter 3:15), but our primary calling is to live the life of Jesus before people. It is His Spirit who will do the wooing and softening of hearts, and He alone is tasked with creating the divine appointments that result in true disciplemaking.
These are two of the ways I have become a weary disciple in the past. How about you? Are there things about the faith that seem burdensome to you? Share your experiences in a comment on this blog. Maybe Jesus can help us learn from each other and we can all find the “rest for our souls” that He intended.
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I am a weary disciple on the days that I try to hold up the shield of faith against Satan's fiery arrows in my own strength....forgetting the beginning of Paul's sharing. Paul begins with " Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." I forget the in the Lord part often....and become weary.
ReplyDeleteI recently had to preach an impromptu message at my state's national guard headquarters, and for lack of time I borrowed one of dad's old ones. One of the points keeps running through my head: faith is activated by prayer. How many of us rely on "self-confident optimism" rather than "prayerful dependance on God" for our day to day needs? Why do we insist on carrying the burden when Jesus is offering to do the work? This was a good reminder to regularly lighten my load with prayer.
ReplyDeleteEd and Matt, you are both right on. I've labored under the same kinds of burdens myself. And I can go for a long time under the pile without even realizing the cause. Sure takes a long time to get the basics down, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great blog. I am sooo pleased to have found your blog.
ReplyDeleteYes it is so hard to learn to live confident that our Father loves us. He has had to use big 2 x 4 and knock me in the head many times before I have started to get the fact that He does love me. Everything that happens is a gift from God to make us more Christ like. When we are going through the gift most of the time we don't think they are gifts. Most of the time we think they are trials, but when we get through them and look back we can see that they really were gifts and they did make us grow to be more Christ like.
To me the easy burden is the peace and the joy that I have inside of me. My world can be in total disruption around me but I have this peace that goes beyond understanding inside of me.
The old saying, " it is not in trying harder it is in surrendering more", is so true but so hard for me to live out every day. But it is so important.
If we live our lives thinking that what other people say about us is important to us , they will always be able to control our lives . The only really important words that should matter to us are these, "well done good and faithful servant" said by Jesus