Do I want to get to this place of rest? I can, right now. The questions that matter in life are remarkably few, and they are all answered by the words “Come to me.” Not “Do this, don’t do that” but “Come to me.” If I will simply come to Jesus, my life will be brought into accordance with my deepest desires. I will cease sinning, and I will hear the song of the Lord begin.

Have you ever come to Jesus? Watch the stubbornness of your heart. You will do anything besides the simple, childlike thing. But if you want to stop sinning, you must be simple enough to come and commit yourself to what Jesus says. The attitude of coming is one of complete surrender; you let go of everything and commit all to him.

Jesus Christ makes himself the touchstone for our lives. Look at how he uses the word come. At the most unexpected moments, he whispers, “Come to me.” The instant you hear his voice, you are drawn to him, changed by him. Personal contact with Jesus changes everything.

“And I will give you rest.” Jesus isn’t saying that he’ll put you to bed, hold your hand, and sing you to sleep. He’s saying, “I will get you out of bed—out of the inertia and the exhaustion, out of the state of being half dead while you are alive.” He’s saying, “I will fill you with the spirit of life, and you will be sustained by the perfection of vital activity.”

Sometimes we get pathetic; instead of accepting the will of the Lord with confidence, we start talking about “suffering” it. Where is the majestic vitality of the Son of God in that?

Wisdom from Oswald

We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz. into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 664 L