“Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 (GNT)

Have you noticed this about life yet? The heavier the load you’re carrying, the faster you run out of gas. That is true for your car—but it’s also true for you.

Some of you are overloaded—physically, emotionally, or relationally. The demands of work, family schedules, or financial pressures are causing significant stress in your life.

The Bible says this in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light” (GNT).

Jesus summarizes the secret of stress management in three simple words—come, take, and learn. If you grab hold of these three solutions to stress, they’re going to change your life.

Let’s take a closer look at the first one: Come to Jesus. When you’re feeling overloaded, the antidote to your stress is not a time management plan or a new philosophy. It’s a person—Jesus—and he says, “Come to me.” When life feels heavy, Jesus wants you to turn to him. And when you do, he fills you with rest. 

The rest Jesus gives is a special kind of rest. It’s rest for your soul; it’s soul rest. Without it, you’ll be tempted to throw in the towel.

Soul rest is much deeper than physical rest. It’s the remedy for tension, fatigue, worry, fear, anxiety, guilt, and resentment. Only God can give you the inner peace you need to lower your stress. This doesn’t mean the stressors in your life will go away. They just won’t bother you as much because he is helping you carry them all.

So then why don’t we come to Jesus more often? Because we think we can handle stress on our own. Or maybe we forget that God is waiting for us to call on him. Even if you’re a believer, your first choice when you’re stressed won’t always be to spend quiet time alone with God.

If you’re running on empty today, cry out to God. Spend time with him. You don’t need a program or a plan. You need a person. You need to come to Christ. “Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.”

Over the next couple days, we’ll look at two more solutions to stress.