An Easy Burden

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.