The Invitation We Need Right Now

Jesus says, “Come.” An invitation of rest not an expectation of “more.”

To the tired, bewildered, confused, fatigued, burnt out and rejected… “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” Being driven by an insane amount of pressures constantly will cause us to feel many things internally…burnout, stress, fatigue, feeling lost, confused, and more. Weariness is on the faces of many that I see on a daily basis. There is no denying that our culture and technology seem to be feeding into this weariness of the soul where rest is deeply needed.

Perhaps you feel this as well.

Wearied from the doomsday algorithms.
Fatigued from the continued political divides and feeling misunderstood.
Weary from long seasons of work and little to no margin.
Confused at the collision of expectations and reality.

The list goes on. But the common reoccurring feeling is: a weary soul.

Jesus the One Who Sets Us Free

Another Scripture helpful when in seasons like this is when Jesus speaks of freedom. In John 8:36, following a tense situation, he reminds all who are within earshot of his words that he came to bring freedom. But how do we define such a loaded word?

Jesus, by His Spirit, is able to bring the relief we need in our souls—which equates to freedom. But free from what?

Freedom from sin as a power.
Freedom from condemnation.
Freedom from false identity.
Freedom from fear and control.
Freedom from… weariness.

Remembering the Voice That Says, “I Am With You”

Walking with the Lord over the years has shown me that more times than not, the situation I find myself walking through is not what suffocates or defeats me. It is my forgetfulness—that in the midst of the situation I can still discern the freeing presence of the Lord that says, “I am with you. I have not left you. I will lead you.”

When we take a breath and come back to that voice, freedom comes. The tight, white-knuckle grip on control can loosen. We see more clearly as we slow down and breathe deep.

This freedom nurtures something new within us in the midst of hard seasons. That something is formation. We are to be formed into the image of Jesus. The way we live, speak, advocate, and think are to be a direct reflection of the God who is with us through Christ.

The honest truth is that whether we are aware of it or not, all of us are being formed into something. It could be an image of a better self we aspire to. It could be the neighbors we are trying to keep up with. But here is the harsh reality… this path only leads to more weariness. There is no freedom. There is no life. Only the continued rat race of failed expectations we have created for ourselves—rather than a loving reality found in the love of Jesus.

The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 5:1 and 13 that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free, but then ties that freedom directly to serving one another humbly in love. We cannot give to others what we do not have. We cannot love our spouse and children with a love we have little knowledge of.

Weariness will steal that from you.
Freedom in Jesus will not.

What kind of life becomes possible when love, and not fear, leads the way? What possibilities await us when we prioritize a pace of life that is healthy and in step with the example of Jesus?

I have been on the side of weariness and burnout many times in my life. I have heard Jesus offer rest for the weary and burdened. And many times, I chose instead to “grind it out.” Every one of those moments of bravado ended the same way—I fell face-first into my own exhaustion.

The Life Jesus Came to Give

Jesus, on another occasion, reminds everyone why he came. In John 10:10, while discussing the importance of hearing his voice above all others, he says, “I have come so that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

I trust that in this coming year, the desire of the Lord is the same. First, that you would come to know him—repenting and giving your life fully to him. But in that surrender, that you would also find fullness of life. Freedom in him. That you would be defined not by what you do or how much money you make, but by your identity as a child of the living God.

What might life look like if this is the shift you make in the coming year? Realizing that while your difficult situation may not change, in the midst of it the Lord is present and ready to walk through the fire with you.

Though you may be weary, Jesus still says, “Come.”