As I listened to Dr. David Jeremiah today, http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio_archives.aspx, as he was preaching about stress and our lives, I was drawn to this parallel. He was describing how when we are so stressed out in life that we have a rest in our Savior and God and that not only is it a slight offer to come to Jesus, but is a command, the way the Greek “I” is written in the text. “28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30.
So as we go about our daily duties, which He does entreat us to do: “From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him.” (Proverbs 12:14), we still need to go to Him for rest and rejuvenation, and for me, be more like Mary and less like Martha from the New Testament stories.
Building a case for us to know that we do need to work, and not be lazy or slothful, are these verses contained in this blog post that I found. http://strengthenedbygrace.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/proverbs-on-work/ So by no means is God telling us to be lazy and sit around in Matthew 11:28-30. Perhaps it is a message to rest in Him as we work, to pray through the day, and to meditate on Him always. It is a lesson to me to try and take more time to read the Word and try to hide it in my heart to think more on as I go through my day. And just listening more to teaching radio, such as this show by Dr. David Jeremiah, has been a good practice as I drive hours a week now with work and school, to establish better habits to grow in my Christian walk.
And in the words of Keith Green —
Jesus commands us to go,
But we go the other way.
So he carries the burden alone,
While his children are busy at play,
Feeling so called to stay.
Oh, how God grieves and believes that the world can’t be saved,
Unless the ones he’s appointed obeys,
His command and his stand for the world,
That he loved more than life.
Oh he died, and he cries out tonight.
Jesus commands us to go,
It should be the exception if we stay.
It’s no wonder we’re moving so slow,
When his church refuses to obey,
Feeling so called to stay.
Oh how God comes, as he starts the great judgment of fire,
So he can gain, his greatest desire.
Cause he knows that the souls of the lost,
They can only be reached, through us,
We’re his hands and his feet.
Jesus commands us to go,
It should be the exception if we stay.
It’s no wonder we’re moving so slow,
When god’s children refuse to obey,
Feeling so called to stay.
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/k/keith_green/jesus_commands_us_to_go.html ]
Perhaps directly meant as a call to the mission field, but I think it could also be a call to work with all our might what is at our hand, depending on Jesus, in His name, each day.