FULL OF SUFFERING

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?... No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow -- not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love."  (Romans 8:35-38 NLT)

When you are sad, tired, lonely and full of suffering, take refuge in the sanctuary of your soul and there you will find your Brother, your Friend, Jesus, who will console you, support you and strengthen you. 

-- Charles de Foucauld in “Meditations of a Hermit”

#5053

TO ALL WHO ARE WEARY

You are tired. You are weary. Weary of being slapped by the waves of broken dreams. Weary of being stepped on and run over in the endless marathon to the top. Weary of a year-long pandemic. Weary of political polarization and fighting. Weary of putting your trust in someone only to have the door slammed in your face. Weary of staring into the future and seeing only futility.

What steals your childhood zeal? It is weariness that makes the words of Jesus so compelling. Listen to them. "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Come to Me… The invitation is to come to Him. Why Him? He offers the invitation as a penniless rabbi in an oppressed nation. He has no connections with the authorities in Rome. He hasn’t written a best-seller or earned a diploma.

Yet He dares to look into the leathery faces of farmers, the tired faces of stay-at-home parents, the anguished faces of those fighting for social justice, the fatigued masked faces of front-line healthcare workers… and makes this paradoxical promise: “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.” (Matthew 11:29)

The people came. They came out of the cul-de-sacs and office complexes and hospitals of their existence and He gave them, not religion, not doctrine, not systems, but rest.

As a result, they called Him Lord. As a result, they called Him Savior. Not so much because of what He said, but because of what He did. What He did on the cross during six hours, one Friday. 

-- Adapted and updated from “Six Hours One Friday” by Max Lucado

#5051

OUR BURDEN-BEARING SAVIOR

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  (Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV)

The famous poem “Footprints” reminds us that in life’s most difficult seasons, Jesus does not abandon us; rather, at the times we are unable to go on, He picks us up and carries us.

We are amazed by the picture of a burden-bearing Savior. He took our sins upon Himself so that we might have freedom. He takes up our shame so that we are no longer hindered by it. What other burdens have never landed on our shoulders because He would not allow it? What other burdens has He taken upon Himself rather than letting them fall to us?

Whatever is loading you down today, you need to carry it no longer. Jesus will scoop the weight in one arm and put His other arm around your tired shoulders. Gently He’ll remind you that it is for these very things that He sacrificed His life.

Today, feel Him removing the weight of burden and holding you near. 

-- From “Hello God… It’s Me: 365 Day Devotional Journal”

#4883