‘Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live…' Matthew
11:30
Jesus said, ‘[The Pharisees] tie up heavy loads and put
them on men’s shoulders’ (Matthew 23:4 NIV 1984 Edition). They imposed rules
that people couldn’t keep, and on the rare occasion when they could keep them
it brought them no joy. Stephen Mosley writes: ‘Our morality calls out rather
feebly. It whines from the corner of a sanctuary; it awkwardly interrupts
pleasures; it mumbles excuses at parties; it shuffles along out of step and
slightly behind the times…It’s often regarded by our secular contemporaries as
a narrow, even trivial, pursuit…Tragically, conventional religious goodness
manages to be both intimidating and unchallenging at the same time.
Intimidating - because it may involve 101 different rules about so-called
spirituality. Unchallenging - because we may exhaust ourselves trying to keep
all these rules, yet never experience the true joy Jesus offers. That’s why
people inside the church so often get weary. Conforming to such a religion is
simply not a rewarding enough experience to fill the void in our hearts.’ Have you grown weary of pursuing spiritual growth? Could it be you’ve been pursuing the wrong thing, or going at it the wrong way? If so, consider these words of Jesus: ‘Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn how to live freely and lightly’ (Matthew 11:28-30 MSG).
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