Come To Me

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28-30

The distinctive characteristic of the Bible is its emphasis on invitation. All of the Bible is primarily an invitation. The highlights are less its comprehensive commands, and more its incredible invitations. It is an invitation to be counted as the redeemed, an invitation from heaven to earthly beings, of glory to the corruptible flesh. Of the invitations, here is the one that is universally appealing – “Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened” - an invitation to rest for the weary soul.

A weary soul is a miserable thing. It is an experience all know of but none can quite describe it. It is an invitation that at once shines in its simplicity as it astounds us with its audacity.

“Come to Me!” It shines in its simplicity. Jesus does not demand hardworking toil, intellectual gymnastics or our unending contemplation. All Jesus yearns for is our attention. It does not list qualifications to be achieved, attitudes to be attained, or works to be accomplished. It is liberating. It is a simple invitation to come. It simply requires a willingness to answer the invitation. A little child understands what it means to come.

It also stuns us with its audacity. Who can claim to give rest to our souls? Who can understand the depth of our hearts? It would be quite bold and unbelievable if it was not for the Person doing the inviting. With a confidence that can be only possessed by the One who has created the soul is this invitation to assuage it. It is only a Sovereign God who can promise to have a cure for weary souls.

Are you soul weary? Slumber can revitalize the weariness of your body, but soul weariness can be only be relieved by the One who knows you and knows your thoughts, your successes, your failings. And the answer is a simple invitation. “Come to Me” is the echo of divine desire. Ever since the beginning God's call has been Come to Me! To those who thirst, he says “Come to me and drink from the living waters.” To a bunch of fishermen He says, “Come follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” To sinners he pleads “Come, Now let us reason together Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” To the hungry he cries out "I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry." To the faithful he says "Come and share the Master's happiness." To the rich man looking for eternal life, he says "Sell your possessions and Come follow me!" To the dying he says “Give ear and come to me so that your soul may live”. To those rejected he says “Come, Whoever comes to me I will not cast away.” To the redeemed He says "Come to the wedding banquet. Enter into my rest."

The Bible ends with this call to come. And at the end of history, we are told “The Spirit says come! The Bride says Come! Let him who athirst come. Whosoever will let him come.” And no one who has come to Christ has been sorry.

Friend, if you are you weary and burdened, will you come to Christ?

Danesh Manik

Righteousness and Rightness

The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ “But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Matthew 13:28-29
In this familiar parable, Jesus gives us a glimpse of at least one of the aspects of the Kingdom of God. For those who may be unfamiliar, Jesus describes a man who plants good seed but in a short while as the harvest approaches, the servants find tares that were sown by the enemy, and were alike enough to the wheat to be undetectable in the beginning. They are surprised, and naturally want to get rid of them. The master in his wisdom advises against it for the potential harm that will be done to the good wheat and asks them to wait for harvest time.

The most obvious and direct application of this parable is the insight into the nature, albeit temporary, of the Kingdom of God. In the Kingdom of God there will always be dupes that will be similar in appearance, but not in substance, to the real servants of God until the appointed time.

But in addition to the insight into the Kingdom of God, I think it gives us a wonderful insight in the heart of the King. It reveals to us the very heart of our Lord. The master cares for the wheat’s wellbeing enough to suffer the tares. He will not suffer even little collateral damage to thwart the enemy. The King is more concerned about individual subjects than simply the Kingdom as a whole! He will suffer the enemy for the sake of his subjects.

Think of the implications. On a personal level, the child of God can rest assured that he or she does not serve a King that is more interested in simply the overall rule, but cares for the individual. The Lord will even suffer evil to ensure your care. On a corporate level it implies that the Body of Christ is more precious to God and He will not allow it to be bruised, even for a seemingly good and a right purpose. He will wait till the end. In the end all things will be made perfect, but for now God will even allow a seeming victory of the enemy.

God would be right to destroy the tares, but God cares more to be righteous than simply right.

If I may draw out a principle from the very heart of the King, it would be this: Anything we do or say, even if it is right, if it bruises the body of Christ, the Church, it cannot be the will of God. If it damages and uproots a brother or sister in Christ, even if it is right, it will not be a righteous thing to do. And God cares more about our righteousness than our being right. Because being right is for the moment, righteousness is for eternity. At the end of it all righteousness will make everything right.

I suspect that it is not the obvious onslaught on Christ, or His followers by those who vehemently disagree with Christianity or Christ that bothers our Lord, it is our tendency of not caring what happens to our brothers and sisters in our pursuit of being right. We have all heard of church splits, scandals, and venomous words that have often destroyed the precious wheat while the tares were being pulled out.

Friend, I pray that we will recognize this great responsibility on those who have responded to the sacrificial death of Christ, to those who have repented, and been born again in the Kingdom of God, that we will be pursuer of righteousness above rightness.

Danesh Manik