Are you a Highlighter?

Matthew 11:25-28

Are you a highlighter, I am and when reading a book I highlight the points I want to reread and remember.  From the time I asked Jesus into my life I’ve highlighted verses in each of the Bibles I’ve owned, and sometime gone back and underlined those passages.  Such is the case with Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Many a person has asked, what do you do with your time now that you’re not working?  In that I’ve been between Jobs for 6 years, some refer to this as retirement, but I did not retire from work, I only retired from getting paid for what I am doing.  And with that said, lets get honest, the older I get the heavier the burden seems to get, and I need more than anything in my life, to run to the One who can fulfill the promise of Matthew 11:28-30. 

But why did Jesus ask us to come to Him?  A great question, and best answered by Jesus’ own words.  Because He created us and knows our thoughts and actions, He knew that people like you and me would want to look good, and especially in a religious setting.  Jesus addressed such actions and how they affect our soul an example is given by Dr. Luke in Luke 11:37-53.  In those verses Jesus is addressing the way Pharisees and lawyers use their religion to control and use those under them.  Picking up the story in Luke 11:46, and he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”  It seems the old is forever new, is it not lawyers who get laws passed to control and make money for their special interest groups, with no concern for the load it puts on their fellow citizens.

Why does Jesus ask you to come to Him?  Jesus said this to you, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”  (John 6:35-40)

I have one problem with highlighting, it’s all inspired by God, and often the Holy Spirit will show me that I missed the heart of the message, and that is true when I went back and highlighted verse 27, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice