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The Rest Christ Offers, April 24
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest.
Matthew 11:28
.
There is a condition to the rest and peace here offered us by Christ.
It is that of yoking up with Him. All who will accept the condition will
find that the yoke of Christ will help them to bear every burden needful for
them to carry. Without Christ at our side to bear the heaviest part of the
load, we must indeed say that it is heavy. But yoked with Him to our car of
duty, the burdens of life may all be lightly carried. And just in proportion
as man acts in willing obedience to the requirements of God will come rest
of spirit....
Meekness and humility will characterize all who are obedient to the
law of God, all who will wear the yoke of Christ with submission. These
graces will bring the desirable result of peace in the service of God....
God knows that if we were left to follow our own inclinations, to go just
where our will would lead us, we would fall into Satan’s lines and become
possessors of his attributes. Therefore the law of God confines us to the
will of One who is high and noble and elevating. He desires that we shall
patiently and wisely take up the duties of service.... A sullen submission
to the will of the Father will develop the character of a rebel. The service
is looked upon by such a one in the light of drudgery. It is not rendered
cheerfully and in the love of God. It is a mere mechanical performance....
Such service brings no peace or quietude to the soul.
God presents to the world two classes. For the one—the wicked—He
says, “There is no peace” (
Isaiah 48:22
). Of the other, “Great peace have
they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them” (
Psalm 119:165
)....
The Lord calls His yoke easy and His burden light. Yet that yoke will
not give us a life of ease and freedom and selfish indulgence. The life of
Christ was one of self-denial and self-sacrifice at every step. And His true
follower, with consistent, Christlike tenderness and love, will follow in the
footsteps of his Master
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Manuscript 20, 1897
.
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