Come to Me

“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28 (NASB)

Often in my personal relationships I tend to want to clean myself up and get everything in order before presenting to someone. I think we all do this. We want to make a good impression with our best foot forward. Then as we get to know someone, we “let our hair down” because we trust them to love us for who we are, not what we show to them.

I find myself doing this same thing to God. Even though I think I have a good relationship with Him, many times I still feel like I must clean up before going to see Him. I need to repent and confess all my sins and get “right” before going to Him. I think, maybe He will approve of me more if it looks like I’m on the right track again.

What if He knows all our junk anyway? What if He is just longing for us to come as we are? If you’ll notice, the verse doesn’t say “weary ones, strengthen yourself before going to the Lord”. He beckons for the weary ones to come. The fearful, the downtrodden, the failures, the rejected. The ones despised by the world.

He delights to be given the opportunity to take your weariness and exchange it for his Peace, his true Rest. There is no other way we can get this on our own! We are simply giving our heart to Him, trusting it in his care, and acknowledging that nothing can separate us from his love (Rom 8:38-39), even our own stuff!

Today, let Jesus take all your burdens. All your junk. All your imperfections. Don’t even worry about sorting it out. Let Him exchange it for the most tranquil and healing rest you have ever known. And it is His absolute delight to do so.

Lord Jesus today I come to you completely open and authentic. Flaws and all. I thank you for taking every single burden and bit of weariness and for giving me true rest in you. Thank you for letting me feel your nearness today as I sit in your presence which brings fullness of joy. Help me to have confidence to come to you boldly every single day, for you are my true refreshment. Amen.