“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and

humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

–Matthew 11:29

How many of you could use a little extra rest? I know that I cannot possibly be the only one. It seems that no matter how good my

intentions are I never seem to get to bed quite as early as I would like. Or even if I do I find myself tossing and turning (much to my wife’s chagrin) as I cannot stop my mind from racing through the checklists of things that need to be done. This week I realized that it is just about time to “Spring Ahead” on March 12th as well…there goes another hour!

While sleep and rest for our physical bodies and needs are certainly important Jesus’ words in Matthew speak of a different kind of rest, rest for our souls. Jesus tells us to, “Take my yoke upon you” I sat for a few minutes pondering those words this week. If we think about what a yoke was, it was a tool or piece of equipment that was placed on two animals to join them together to accomplish the work that needed to be done. I don’t know about you, but I cannot think of anyone that I would rather be yoked to than Jesus. He wants each and every one of us to be yoked with him so that we can learn. We can learn his ways of gentleness, his humble ways and in doing so we will find rest for our souls.

My friends, in all the coming and going of your lives: school, work, appointments, meetings, practice, to-do lists, whatever else may make a claim on your lives I encourage you to take time each day to yoke yourself to Jesus. Spend time in his presence, studying the Word, praying, singing His praises, however, and wherever you can find Him, do so. I believe that when we make time and take the time to spend with Him all the other noise and stress begins to bleed away and we can truly receive rest and refreshment for our entire being.

May God’s blessing be with each of us today and always,

Pastor Devin

To read the rest of the March newsletter, click here: march-2017