Rest for Your Souls | Morning Routine Daily Devotional for February 4

Come to me, all 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 ESV

In today’s passage, Jesus extends a remarkable invitation: “Come to me, and I will give you rest.” And who is invited to come? All—“all who labor and are heavy laden.” Does that description fit you? Well, Jesus promises rest. Christianity is not a religion of burdens but spiritual rest. 

Jesus invites us to take His yoke and learn from Him. The yoke is what joins two oxen together to pull a plow. Following Jesus is a commitment that comes with obligations. As one commentator explains, “Like the yoke that couples oxen together, discipleship does not exempt one from work but makes it manageable.” And more than manageable! Unlike a cruel master one might have served in various times and places, Jesus describes himself as “gentle and lowly in heart.” Jesus’ yoke is easy, and his burden is light. 

The choice before us is not to take a yoke or not. Rather, it is the choice of which yoke to take. Will we live for ourselves (or for some other thing than Jesus)? That is a difficult yoke and a heavy burden, a chasing of shadows. Or will we come to Jesus, and take his yoke, which is easy, and bear His burden, which is light? And when we come to Him, He says, “I will give you rest” and “You will find rest for your souls.” Let’s serve the Lord today, not as those who wearily labor for His favor, but as those who have come to Him and been given rest.