Friday, April 11

by Jordan Schriefer
"Come, Bring Your Burdens to God"

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.    –Matthew 11:28-30

Our society tells us to go, go, go. There’s hardly any time for rest because there’s always something to do or to be done. This fast paced lifestyle may work for some people, but I am definitely not one of them. As my grandfather reminds me every time I see him, “You cannot burn a candle from two ends, it will burn out very quickly.” How true this is! When we try to do too much all at the same time, we cannot dedicate ourselves fully to one thing; instead, we find that we spread ourselves too thin among many things, not able to give our all. I unfortunately try to believe that I can multi-task and juggle various projects at one time; however, I am quickly reminded each time I do this, that I am not perfect, and it is not practical to be able to do that.

One way I have experienced the peace of Christ is through the Bible studies and devotions I have been involved in throughout high school, and now my collegiate years. My Wednesday night Bible study is something I look forward to every week because I know that no matter what I have going on, it can wait for an hour and a half; nothing is more important than drawing near to our God. Most weeks I find myself physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted by Wednesday yet this is my favorite day of the week; I get to shut the world out of my head and dive into scripture and study with my closest friends. Matthew 11 verses 28-30 tells us that all we have to do is give our burdens and requests to God, and he alone will give us peace and rest. Nothing we do can earn this Peace, this beautiful serene Peace we are given as Children of God, because it is a gift. There’s a song that comes to mind that goes along with this scripture, “Come bring your burdens to God, come bring your burdens to God, Come bring your burdens to God, for Jesus will never say no.” Whenever I feel like there is too much going on, which as a college student seems to be much too frequently, I find a quiet place to sit and close my eyes for a few minutes to just breathe. Just finding a quiet place for a few minutes sends this rush of Peace over me, as if all of my worries are lifted off my shoulders.

We are imperfect beings. Jesus is Perfect. We are weary and burdened. Jesus is Peace.

Come bring your burdens to God, for Jesus will never say no.


Lift in prayer today
Center for Community Transitions,
helping those with criminal records find a productive way of living