Resting in Christ
By Pastor Chuck Swindoll
Yoke up with Jesus
“Jesus says come to Me and My rest will be well-fitting, my yoke will feel right. It’ll make it easier. Usually yokes are made for two to pull together and He is alongside us. And as we slip into His rest, we yoke up with Him. His burden is light. Isn’t that great? When He pulls, He takes most of the load. ‘My yoke is easy; My burden is light.’”
True Rest, Available Now
“This is not the kind of rest I’m encouraging that requires you to take half a day off. This is not a rest that Jesus speaks of that requires a sabbatical. This is not where you lay out a year so that you can sort of recover from the load. This is a rest that can go on midstream, right through our day. It’s a mental and emotional, a volitional rest. It is a deliberate entering into a world that is full of His peace without in any way escaping the demands of the day.”
“Come to Me”
“We’re not invited to come to church, we’re not asked to come to some guru in Tibet and meditate, we’re not invited to come to a religion, to come to the Holy Land, to come to a new age state of mind channeled directly. We’re invited to come to Him. ‘Come to Me.’ Come to Me. Come to Me. Who’s to come? All of us. Your name belongs there, my name, our names. ‘Come to Me.’ Come on. And magnificently, it is timeless. It is ageless. It is cross-cultural. It is limitless. All of us. You don’t have to dress up, you don’t have to clean up. You don’t have to somehow earn a hearing. You come, you come just as you are, without one plea. You just come to Him. He’s inviting us. Who is to come? All of us. We who are weary.”
Cast Your Cares Upon Him
“I urge you to make this semester different in that you determine you will rest your case with Christ, casting all your cares upon Him because He cares for you. That you will trust in Him with all your heart and stop leaning on your own understanding. That you will leave the placement of your future in His hands and not be anxious about where you will serve or when you will get that call or how you will be able to meet the financial demands that are upon you and never seem to go away. Or how you will be able to find a way to recover or someone you love very much to recover from the current illness that’s plaguing you or them, all in the category of anxieties.”
A Promise to Believe
“That’s the secret. Just turning it all over and taking in return His rest. It works. It really works. He doesn’t lie to us. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.”
Additional Resources
First, sign up for our Chuck’s Insights on Ministry email where we bring you his best thoughts on preaching, leadership, and ministry each week. By signing up, you’ll instantly receive a one-page checklist with 20 preaching insights from Chuck. See this page’s sidebar.
Second, check out our new Preach The Word articles and video series on YouTube where we’re teaching Chuck’s best insights on this important calling.
Third, listen to Chuck’s messages to those in ministry through our Seminary Chapels page. For decades, he offered students at Dallas Theological Seminary his best thoughts on church leadership and ministry. Now, we have put them at your fingertips. Also, you can find them through this YouTube playlist we created for you.
Fourth, if you don’t own a copy of Chuck’s book on preaching, Saying It Well, we highly recommend you add it to your library. It’s his preaching memoir that is also like a practical preaching manual. You won’t be able to put it down.
About the author
Pastor Chuck Swindoll
Pastor Charles R. Swindoll has devoted his life to the accurate, practical teaching and application of God’s Word. He is the founding pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, but Chuck’s listening audience extends far beyond a local church body. As a leading program in Christian broadcasting since 1979, Insight for Living airs around the world. Chuck’s leadership as president and now chancellor emeritus at Dallas Theological Seminary has helped prepare and equip a new generation of men and women for ministry.
