Day 29

God means what he says...His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.

—HEBREWS 4:12 (MSG)

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

If Christ has died for me—ungodly as I am, without strength as I am—then I can no longer live in sin, but must arouse myself to love and serve Him who has redeemed me. I cannot trifle with the evil that killed my best Friend. I must be holy for his sake. How can I live in sin when He has died to save me from it?

—CHARLES SPURGEON

There is no such thing as justified sin. There is no such thing as understandable sin. Every sin falls heavy on the heart of God. Even the smallest sin sent Jesus to the cross.

If there is something in you that rises up in rebellion to these words, if you find yourself saying, “well I couldn’t help that because my circumstances were so dire—what was I expected to do,” I challenge you to recognize here the voice of the enemy. The devil wants you to ignore or justify your sin so that you will remain in bondage; Jesus, through your repentance (turning away from your sin) and submission (turning over your will to God), wants to bring you into a freedom that you have never before known.

A temptation we all face is to accept Jesus as our Comforter and Friend and reject him as our Lord and Savior. We accept His words about freedom and rest, but then reject the path that leads us there. We have to embrace all aspects of Jesus— we have to acknowledge that just as the road to our salvation lies through the cross, the road to our healing lies through a broken heart that has come face to face with its own sin. Our hearts are weighed down and made sick from our sin, and it is only when we turn away from those sins that we find healing and freedom.

Sometimes we don’t need a Comforter so much as we need a Surgeon.

“Jesus Christ had to fathom every sin and every sorrow man could experience, and that is what makes Him seem strange. When we see Him in this aspect we do not know Him, we do not recognize one feature of His life, and we do not know how to begin to follow Him. He is on in front, a Leader Who is very strange, and we have no comradeship with Him. The discipline of dismay is essential in the life of discipleship. The danger is to get back to a little fire of our own and kindle enthusiasm at it (cf. Isaiah 50:10-11). When the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come that following of Jesus which is an unspeakable joy.”

—Oswald Chambers

Hear the call of Jesus today saying, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), remembering that TRUE rest comes when we humble ourselves, take off the heavy yoke of our sin, and leave it all at the cross.

Go back to Day 11 and read The Restorer again as a reminder of the healing power of Jesus’s love.