To win a 100 meter race, you need speed. For a marathon, you need endurance. Life is like a marathon. More often than not, we’re faced with challenges which drain our energy and give us every reason to give up. How do we endure in such times?
Professional athletes usually wear clothes which are very light. This improves their performance. However, many a times when we run the marathon of life, we do the exact opposite – we carry heavy burdens, like guilt from the past or anxieties about the future, which weigh us down and discourage us. Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ He is willing to take our burdens and mighty enough to carry them. Jesus then goes on to encourage us to take his yoke upon us instead, which he says is not like the burdens of the world which crush us, but is light and easy. This is a call to live a life of obedience to and dependence on Him. But such obedience or dependence is not meant to make us slaves or to wear us out, but to help us experience ultimate freedom and rest as God intended it.
Today, you might be facing a challenge which has drained all your energy. You may have every reason to give up, but will you submit that challenge to Jesus and cast all your burdens upon Him? He can give our hearts and minds the sweet rest that we so long for in the midst of our toughest challenges.
