Feeling Better

Oh it feels good to be a week out from chemo. Usually, it is the day before chemo ie Mondays) that I usually feel more normal, then, bam,I get another dose. But this is my week off, so I am sooo glad. I can start to do things again. This week it will be a little Spring cleaning and a little spackling in the hall bathroom that we tore up for a repair to the master bath, without finishing the wall.

And Spring is coming to east Tennessee. The birds, the flowers, the warmer temperatures - they're back.

Today I read one of my favorite passages in the Bible - Matthew 11:28-30.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

What an invitation that is. To put aside the trials of this life and to find rest in knowing Christ and being "yoked" to Him. I picture that like a yoke of oxen, where one is the strong one (Christ) who carries the weight of all the burdens, and the other is weak and weary and finds the help and strength to carry on because of being joined to the stronger one by the yoke. I know that is how it is for me. Not only that, but Jesus is meek and lowly of heart. Meekness is not weakness. It is strength under control. He does not use His power to bully anyone into submission, nor is He haughty or arrogant. Rather He is tenderhearted and full of mercy to those who accept His invitation of putting their faith in Him and allowing His Lordship in their lives.

Furthermore, such an invitation is not without its benefits. In "exchange" for the yoke, you get forgiveness of sins, a clean slate, eternal life, adoption as a joint heir with Christ, a changed heart, a new outlook on life, the opportunity to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control - if we allow it), and a personal knowledge of God.

So why do so many reject His offer? I think it must our human pride. We don't want to admit we are in need of His help, that we, as good as we might think we are, are still what the Bible calls sinners, rebels against God's way. We have inherited Adam's curse just by being born. God's solution is faith in His Son's substitutionary sacrifice for us personally. It's so simple. But people would rather come up with their own ideas of how to get "back to the garden", back to innocence. The trouble is, it's not the way God has prescribed as the only cure for our "disease". So people turn away from the best offer they could ever receive. As a result, they miss out on so much. I wish it wasn't that way.