Coming to Jesus is not like coming to church

Continuing to read Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened..."

Coming to Jesus is not like coming to church. We don't have to leave our burdens at home and make ourselves presentable. We don't drop our burdens at the door, enter into his presence, and then pick them up again on the way out. There are lots of things that we do to take our minds off of our troubles, coming to Jesus is not one of them. All of our entertainments, spiritual or otherwise may provide some relief, reprieve, and distraction from the things that weary us, and it's important to have this kind of outlet in our lives. But coming to Jesus is not a distraction from the central issues of our life. We don't come to Jesus to feel spiritual, to feel forgiven, or to get rest. Many of the things that we come to Jesus for are only a byproduct of coming to him with our burdens. To come to Jesus to get rest is like trying to catch a butterfly: the more you chase it the further away it flies. Rest is the result, not of pursuing rest in Jesus, but of bringing our concerns to him.

The most important burden to bring to Jesus is the burden of our own sin. We feel its weight, and "weight", is an appropriate biblical word for our sin (Heb. 12:1). This weight is the most fruitful of all the burdens we can bring to Jesus. I would like Jesus to give me rest without making me face my sin. I don't want my time with Jesus to be a confrontation, I want it to be pleasant. But Jesus knows that its getting wearisome for me to keep carrying around the same old garbage day in and day out, year after year. He wants me to bring my burdens into the relationship with him. It is both an act of desperation and an act of courage to come to him with all of my stuff. So many Christians have an unfruitful relationship with God because they aren't willing for God to talk straight with them about their life. Bring your burdens to Jesus and he will give you rest.

I find that we are often reluctant to bring the burden of what others have done to us into our fellowship with Jesus for similar reasons. We don't want to feel the pain again, don't want to be reminded of it. We don't want to have to forgive, don't want to feel like we are being forced into yet another injustice. We don't want to acknowledge that our own sin may have played a role in our being hurt.

Jesus can't heal a burden that is not brought to him. If I keep my suffering, my sin, my anger, my bitterness, outside the door of my spiritual life I will find that I experience a temporary distraction through prayer and worship and bible study but that I receive no significant healing. Many people multiply their spiritual exercises and devotions hoping in this way to crush the burdens that they are carrying around. The actual result is that all the pressure creates a counter force that eventually erupts in ever more pain.

Don't think that when Jesus says: "Come to me, you who are weary and burdened..." that he is inviting you to a world of make believe where your sin and the pain inflicted on you by other's sin no longer matters. As the verse goes on to say, he is inviting you to put on a yoke, to pull with him in one harness, to accomplish the work that leads to rest and peace.

Is the place where I meet with Jesus a truly honest place or do I bring my penchant for keeping secrets into the most holy place of my life?