Rest

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Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Simple enough, is it not? Thus it appears. The promise is large and far-reaching. Rest for the soul is comprehensive. It implies much. It means deliverance from constant perplexing uncertainty. The word rest is repeated twice. «I will give you rest;» in wearing Christ’s yoke and learning of Him, His meekness and lowliness, «ye shall find rest to your souls.» Here is a giving by Christ, and on our part, an acceptance of the promise, a conscious finding, a sense of relief from all perplexing doubt.

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The reason why there are so many in perplexity is, they take their case into their own finite hands, and manufacture yokes that are not pleasant for them to wear. They suppose they understand their own case, and will worry and plan and devise, when Christ stands inviting, «Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.» I said, If you have not found the rest that Christ has offered to give you upon condition that you learn of Him who is meek and lowly of heart, would you not better without delay yoke up with Christ, bear only His burdens, and not pile upon yourselves burdens that weigh you down to the earth? All your trouble is because you are so anxious to run things yourselves that you do not wear the yoke of Christ, which He declares is easy. The yokes of your own manufacturing gall the neck that wears them. Christ says, Try my yoke, it is easy; lift my burdens, for they are light.

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A Paul may plant, an Apollos water, but God giveth the increase. Christ gives rest to all who receive Him by faith. You are not to conjure up a variety of objects that you must enter into in order to find rest, assurance, confidence. Just leave that work, which none of the wisest of the human family can do, and put your trust in One who has promised rest to your souls. Do just what He has told you to do, and be assured that God will do all that He has engaged to do. The invitation is, «Come unto me, and I will give you rest.» Have you come to Him renouncing all your makeshifts, all your unbelief, all your self-righteousness? Come just as you are, weak, helpless, and ready to die. What is the «rest»? It is the consciousness that God is true, that He never disappoints a soul who comes unto Him. His pardon is full and free, and His acceptance of you means rest to your soul, rest in His love.

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But be sure that you do your part; cooperate with the One who has promised. By some the promise is grasped so eagerly that it becomes their own, and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit is their experience. Others suppose that they must wait to become worthy. Never, never will you become worthy; for if this were possible, the Prince of Heaven would never have come to our world. He in this action shows before all the universe of heaven that He has united humanity to Himself, in order that humanity may stand on vantage ground through cooperating with Christ, that man may have his rest. Through the merits of the Son of God, he becomes a partaker of the divine nature. «Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.» —