JEFF TURNER

Matthew 11:28 records Jesus inviting the weary and burdened to come to him for rest. This rest is not simply physical relief but the end of a much deeper struggle. Many spend their lives searching for truth, fulfillment, and peace. Others, like the Jews of Jesus’ day, labour under heavy religious demands, trying to earn God’s favour through rules and rituals.

Jesus offers something different. When a person comes to him in faith, the exhausting effort to achieve salvation ends. The weight of trying to be good enough is lifted, replaced by the peace that comes from God’s grace.

This rest is freedom. It is freedom from the need to prove oneself to God and freedom from the endless search for meaning. Salvation is a gift of God, not the result of works. In Christ, the soul finds the true rest it has been seeking.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8–9