Have you responded?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’
(Matthew 11:28 (NIV))

Have you ever thought about this passage from a different perspective where we don’t follow human nature and put ourselves first?

It is human nature to read this and think that Jesus is calling me to come to Him, and, in all honesty, He is. I just realized that I have overlooked the obvious in this passage, and I am certain that I am not the only one. It is a huge obvious!

In order for Jesus to call you and I to Himself, He had to first come to us! He had to make Himself accessible for those who would answer His call. Think about that for a moment. It is one thing to say come here, come to me, but it is quite another to take the first step, especially when that step is probably ninety-nine percent of the distance that needs to be traversed.

We all know what was planned and completed.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
(John 3:16-21 (NIV))

When God reached out to us, He didn’t say that if we could reach Him, then He would forgive us. He didn’t say that He would meet us half way if we were able to make it. He sent His only Son to meet us where we are. All of the effort was put forth for us. All that we have to do is answer the call.

Come to me!

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook