SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/30/2021 10:23 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Repentance
and Rest”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
11:28b
Message of the
verse: “all who are weary and
heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
We begin by looking at the words “all who are,” and these
words indicate a condition that already exists.
The ones that Jesus is inviting to Himself are the ones who already “are
weary and heavy-laden.” MacArthur adds “Although
this aspect of Jesus’ invitation is mentioned after faith (‘Come to Me’),
chronologically it precedes faith, referring to the repentance that drives the
humble, seeking person to Christ for salvation.”
Let us now look at the word in the Greek for “to grow
weary, or to labor. This word in the
Greek is “kopiao” and it carries the
idea of working to the point of utter exhaustion. In the gospel of John and in 4:6 we read “and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from
His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.” The word “wearied” is the same word as we see
here that Jesus was wearied after walking all day, and if I remember right from
my study of John He and His disciples had walked around 20 miles that day, so
it is no wonder that we read that Jesus was wearied.
MacArthur writes “Weary’ translates
a present active participle and refers figuratively to arduous toil in seeking
to please God and know the way of salvation.
Jesus calls to Himself everyone who is exhausted from trying to find and
please God in his own resources. Jesus
invites the person who is wearied from his vain search for truth through human
wisdom, who is exhausted from trying to earn salvation, and who has despaired
of achieving God’s standard of righteousness by his own efforts.” I believe
that perhaps there are people who are reading this SD that understand exactly
what is being talked about here, as they have become very weary of trying to
come to God by their own efforts. There
may be people who are a part of a church that teaches that you have to do this
or do that in order to be able to enter into the Kingdom of God, which is
really what Matthew is writing about in his gospel. These people need to realize and to understand
that in and of yourself you can do nothing to enter the kingdom of God, but
realize that Jesus has done it all and so stop trying and call upon the name of
the Lord and you will be saved, and there is no better way to start out a New
Year that to become a true born-again believer in Jesus Christ, so you can stop
carrying the burden of trying to do it on your own and receive the rest that
Jesus talks about at the end of verse 28.
MacArthur writes “Heavy-laden’
translates a perfect passive participle, indicating that at some time in the
past a great load was dumped on the wearied person. Whereas ‘weary’ refers to the internal
exhaustion caused by seeking divine truth through human wisdom, ‘heavy-laden’
suggest external burdens caused by the futile efforts of works righteousness.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I believe
that this section can also be applied to believers who after they have become a
true believer try from time to time to do things to please the Lord on their
own, and not rely on the Holy Spirit of God to work through them to do the
things that He desires from them to do.
I think again of Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would
walk in them.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the
Lord to show me the things that He desires for me to do this day. I trust the Lord to give me wisdom in order
to complete my Sunday school lesson for this up-coming Sunday, and may it be
pleasing to the Lord.
12/30/2021
10:50 AM
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