Matthew 11:28 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, preached his last message on June 7th, 1891. Illness would keep him out of the pulpit until his death a few months later. Though he didn’t know it at the time, he would close his entire preaching life with the following poignant thoughts (continued in the next post):
“Those who have no master are slaves to themselves. Depend upon it, you will either serve Satan or Christ, either self or the Saviour. You will find sin, self, Satan, and the world to be hard masters; but if you wear the livery of Christ, you will find him so meek and lowly of heart that you will find rest unto your souls. He is the most magnanimous of captains.”
Life can be hard, our burdens weighty, and our path arduous. As we plow through the challenges of life, we face stiff resistance and strong toil. Yet, we were never designed to struggle alone; similarly, our nation was never designed to struggle alone. God allows us to let him do the heavy lifting.
There is indeed heavy lifting to be done, in our lives and in our nation. In the name of pride and enlightenment, we have chosen to bear the burdens alone. Instead of being servants of a God who can shoulder our heavy-laden loads, we have become slaves to sin, self, Satan, and the world. All have revealed themselves to be hard masters, yet we plow on in our own strength with determination, defiance, and self-will.
We must step back and realize that in our self-sufficiency we are still serving a master, one requiring far more toil and drudgery than Christ with no results other than restlessness. PLEASE TURN TO GOD IN PRAYER TO BEAR OUR INDIVIDUAL AND NATIONAL BURDENS. Otherwise, we will continue serving a hard master instead of a magnanimous captain.
