Invitation to Surrender

                                                  

 

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11: 28-30 NKJV

 

“You are surrounded! Come out with your hands up! Surrender now!” The police officer speaks with a stern voice. Multiple officers stand with guns pointed. The man opens the door. He is handcuffed and taken to jail. A common ending to many popular crime shows.

 

Jesus calls us to surrender our lives to Him. So often we resist. I wonder if we imagine God to be like the police officer in the tv show, stern and angry, eager to take us away to a life of misery.

 

Yes, God is asking us to surrender, but that is where the similarity ends. The One who calls us is the Holy God, the Creator, the King, the Lord. He has the authority to call us. He has the right to rule our lives.  He also is the God who loves us more than we could possibly imagine. “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV

 

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus invites the weary and the heavy laden to come to Him. He describes Himself as “gentle and lowly in heart”. With a kind, gentle voice, He calls us to surrender our lives to Him. His intention is not to give us a life of misery. Instead, He offers a life of peace and joy and “rest for your souls”. What do we do with an invitation like that? We come to Jesus. We simply come.