Come To Me By Rocky Fleming

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

-Jesus Christ

Here’s a question for you: Are you carrying a burden that feels too difficult to bear?  Maybe it’s because it’s a burden that God wants to help you with, and you are not releasing it to Him?  Have you considered this, or is your primary instinct or action to carry it, while you grip it and slump under its heavy load?  I’ve been there.  I speak from experience.  I have the left-over battle scars that remind me often with an inner voice that says, “You’re doing it again.  You are trying to take back a burden that you released to Me.  Did you really release it?”  It was through the repeated cycle of releasing it, taking it back, and releasing it again that I came to understand something about myself. At its core, I trusted my own remedy more than God's.  Are you there as well?  If so let me share this part of theology that applies.

But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.

Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled

as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 

James 1:6 (NLT)

I must ask myself some questions when I release a burden to Jesus, as He invites me to do so.  Do I trust Him absolutely with this burden or only partially?  Do I absolutely believe that He will intervene and work a plan on my behalf that will eventually be the best solution, or do I doubt it?  If I were standing before Jesus when He told His followers to give their burdens to Him, would I simply do it, or would I make it conditional or complicated?  Why don’t you ask these questions of yourself, with a burden you are carrying now.

We often complicate things, don’t we? The world we live in is complicated and getting worse. Unfortunately, we also operate in a theological maze in our Western church culture that causes us to overthink and complicate the simple truths and simple invitation of Christ who says, “Come to Me.” “Come” … not to a program ... or... to a self-help study… or… a complex understanding of scripture to fully get it. But to come, simply and more importantly, to Jesus Himself. If we are trying to carry an emotional concern, or a spiritual burden with feeling alone in our struggle, or any other kind of burden, do we doubt that God knows about it and He wants to help us? This is where we begin to release the burden. Until that foundation of faith is set in stone, so to speak, we will waiver with doubt and never enter the rest He wants to give us.

In the passage in James, we see “do not waiver.” Other translations say, “do not doubt.” In this passage we see a nautical illustration that tells us that our wavering would make us unsettled, like a wave in the sea is unsettled. Keeping with the nautical allegory, to counter the waves, we need a rudder in our boat to steer it, and power to fight through the storm, as we navigate the hostile waves. What is the rudder in our life to show us how to navigate our storms? It is this. It is our faith. Not our faith that we know what is best. Not our faith that we can get it done like none other. Not our faith in ourselves, our resources, the world’s resources or anything this world and its creatures can bring to us. It is faith in He who is over all those things and who tells us, “Come find your help, and your rest in Me.” Our faith captures God’s power to overcome the storms of life. It’s as simple as that.

In this world we want to get past our problems as soon as possible. If that is all we want from Jesus, which is to get His help so that we can hurriedly get over our problem and get back to living, we do not understand the nature of sanctification and discipleship. Sanctification for a follower of Christ in not only to be held secure by Him for eternity, but as well to become more like Him. It is the burden and transfer of the
burden that draws us closer to Him, and it is there, in close proximity with Him, we grow to be more like Jesus.

We battle with two pulls in this situation. First is the pull of our flesh and our focus on this life that wants us to get past the burden as soon as possible. The opposing pull is our desire to be the man or woman that God wants to make of us, and to be more like Him. This requires a choice, if not before a burden comes, for sure, when it is on us. Will I choose to let Him do whatever He sees fit to transform me into the man or woman He wants, or do I say no, and leave me alone?

What I’m describing here is Jesus’ invitation to His followers to walk with Him on the narrow and difficult road. If we choose the difficult path, it will be difficult. But, for a follower of Christ it is the only right path, and because it is difficult, we will be prepared for every curve in the road ahead. On the narrow path we experience Jesus’ intensive attention to our soul and its well-being, and from that place within us flows His love and power into our world around us. Yes, the narrow path and the challenges therein are difficult. But they are necessary for greater things in our life to one day show up. The joy of that narrow path with Jesus is that we have His presence to help us with our burden, and this process will grow in our likeness to Him. Will you take Him up on His invitation, for there is a plan in place that will prove to be best. Take it. 

“Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare,‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” John 7:38 NLT