“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
“Great art thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is thy power, and infinite is thy wisdom” (Psalm 145:3; 147:5) And man desires to praise thee, for he is a part of thy creation; he bears his mortality about with him and carries the evidence of his sin and the proof that thou dost resist the proud. Still he desires to praise thee, this man who is only a small part of thy creation.
Thou hast prompted him, that he should delight to praise Thee, for Thou hast made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee. Grant me, O Lord, to know and understand whether first to invoke thee or to praise thee; whether first to know thee or call upon thee. But who can invoke thee, knowing thee not? For he who knows thee not may invoke thee as another than thou art. It may be that we should invoke thee in order that we may come to know thee.
But “how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe without a preacher” (Romans 10:14)? Now, “they shall praise the Lord who seek Him” (Psalm 22:26), for “those who seek shall find Him” (Matthew 7:7), and, finding Him, shall praise Him. I will seek thee, O Lord, and call upon thee. I call upon thee, O Lord, in my faith which thou hast given me, which thou hast inspired in me through the humanity of thy Son, and through the ministry of thy preacher.”
Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in Confessions, Book One, Chapter One, translated and edited by Albert C. Outler. (Dallas: SMU, 1955) 11.
Confessions is another book from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. It is an autobiographical work by Augustine that outlines his sinful early years and conversion to Christianity. It contains 13 books written around the years 397-400.
Augustine starts this famous work with praise. Then we find this oft quoted statement: “For Thou hast made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee.” This sets the tone for the entire work. We are restless apart from Christ, and in Christ we find the rest for which our souls long.
Today’s Scripture spells out Christ’s pointed invitation to find rest in Him. It’s a learning process. We take his yoke upon us and in figure it out as we live it out that His way is good and leads to life. The first disciples learned from Jesus. All followers after that learned from some “preacher” who came and pointed the way.
Wherever you are, enjoy rest in Christ this Christmas week leading up to the new year. And I pray you make a gift to GTP, as we send “preachers” to proclaim good news to the poor and to set captives free. Our staff and volunteers empower 5,590 stewards to serve as “preachers” in 110 countries.
Give generously here as we are praying for $158,000 by year end to deploy staff in 2023 to deliver programs online and onsite in new places like Ethiopia, Jamaica, Honduras, Benin, Togo, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Argentina. In these places, national workers cry for help to activate locally sustained gospel ministry.