“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew11:28-30 NIV

Today I was gifted with a new understanding of the depth of what God is offering through these words.

The burden we carry deep inside of us is that sin—the one that is most difficult to confess.

To confess it, we would need to acknowledge it. To acknowledge it is to admit the level of our depravity. To admit that level of depravity is to go back into the hidden places of our memory and to see it again, to experience it again, and to feel the evil that we chose to be a part of, to do, to be.

But why would anyone want to go back to that place, that day, that time? Why would we want to take that onto ourselves again? And why would a Holy God choose to take that nightmare upon himself, His sinless Self, and in exchange, offer us what we could never imagine. Peace. Relief from the weight of this burden we have carried all these years; the evil that has haunted us.

The offer is so unfair to Him. Why would he choose to take that burden away from us, let alone take it upon himself? The answer is so simple we cannot begin to conceive of it. The answer is: LOVE.

Love that has no boundaries, no end, nothing we could ever deserve, yet so freely given. 

There is one string attached to this gift. There always is, right? He asked that we love Him in return. That we rejoice in the freedom from guilt that we have carried. That we live a life that is so pleasing to Him and that we reap all the benefits of the most precious gift.

Oh, and one more thing. He asks that we tell others about this glorious gift, to never stop spreading the word of His love, His peace, His joy, His forgiveness. And it’s my hope that you will accept that gift. You don’t even have to understand it; how could you? You don’t have to be good enough; you never will be! You don’t have to be afraid; but if you are, that’s okay. You just need to trust that Jesus Christ really did die to take your sins upon himself to make you whole and clean and worthy. Wouldn’t you love to see yourself like that?

So, Dear Friend, if there is a burden you are carrying, give it away to the one who will exchange it for himself. His burden is light and He alone will give you rest.

I promise.