Matthew 11:28, Galatians 6:1 Audio file is at the end of text.
People want to hear bad news. The newspaper journalists have a motto: if it bleeds, it leads. They want to sell papers and they know if there is terrible story about accidents or murders on the front page, people will buy that paper just to delve into the details. This is Satan flooding our minds with negative thinking. I know a highly paid motivational speaker who advises us not to even read the newspaper. He says, "If a war comes, someone will tell you about it." He is right that starting off our day filling our minds with sad stories is very powerful and this will affect how we live our lives.How are Christ-followers to live? While the world presents a constant stream of sadness and defeat, we must focus on the good news of the Gospel. What is the good news? We are in the season where our minds are focused on the cross and the resurrection and we believe in it. We believe that Jesus walked out of the tomb and defeated death and this is the ultimate good news for us. However, before Jesus rose from the dead, he walked the earth and taught us how we are to live by the way he lived.
Let's look at two passages. Matthew 11:28-30 in The Message Translation reads: "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Galatians 6:5 says: "Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life."
We learn that each individual is to work doing the thing they do best and we are promised that Jesus will do the heavy lifting! Next to the resurrection this is the very best news any of us could possibly hear. The hard part for us is letting Jesus in to do the heavy lifting. The hard part is believing this so deeply that all of our fear, worry, anxiety and the daily pounding of bad news rolls off like water on a duck's back. Jesus expects us to live out and live into this really good news.
