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Weary?
(J. C. Philpot, "The
Laborer's Rest" 1845)
"Then Jesus said, "Come to Me, all of you
who are weary and carry heavy burdens,
and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
The Lord's purpose in laying burdens upon
us is to weary us out. We cannot learn our
religion in any other way. We cannot learn
it from the Bible, nor from the experience of
others. It must be a personal work, wrought
in the heart of each; and we must be brought,
all of us, if ever we are to find rest in Christ,
to be absolutely wearied out of sin and self,
and to have no righteousness, goodness, or
holiness of our own.
The effect, then, of all spiritual labor is to bring
us to this point: to be weary of the
world, for we
feel it, for the most part, to be a valley of tears;
to be weary of self, for it is our
greatest plague;
weary of professors, for we cannot
see in them
the grace of God, which alone we prize and value;
weary of the profane, for their ungodly
conversation
only hurts our minds; weary of our bodies,
for they
are often full of sickness and pain, and always
clogs to our soul; and weary of life,
for we see
the emptiness of those things which to most
people make life so agreeable.
By this painful experience we come to this point:
to be worn out and wearied; and there we must
come, before we can rest entirely on Christ.
As long as we can rest in the world, we shall
rest in it. As long as the things of time and
sense can gratify us, we shall be gratified in
them. As long as we can find anything pleasing
in self, we shall be pleased with it. As long as
anything visible and tangible can satisfy us,
we shall be satisfied with them.
But when we get weary of all things visible,
tangible, and sensible--weary of ourselves,
and of all things here below--then we want
to rest upon Christ, and Christ alone.
"Then Jesus said, "Come to Me, all of you
who are weary and carry heavy burdens,
and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
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