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It begins in school. Teachers grading our papers and scoring our tests. When we get them back, we soon find ourselves comparing ourselves with our friends. What starts as curiosity soon becomes a comparison game. It then moves on to our clothes, our friends, and our looks.
In the work world, the feedback can be less clear. We might receive sales targets, an annual review, and occasional feedback on our efforts, but there are no letter grades or test scores to neatly determine how we measure up.
So, we search for other indicators, a house, a car, more education, well-behaved kids. We gather “success stories” while we drive through town or scroll our newsfeeds. Anything we see around us that might lure us into the comparison trap.
No wonder we’re exhausted.
The people of Jesus’ day struggled with exhaustion too. This is why Jesus’ call resonated in the Temple that day. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) and it’s why his merciful promise still resonates today.
In first-century Judea, the people were exhausted by the religious demands of the Jewish Law. Not only was the Scriptural Law extensive and detailed (613 laws in all), but the religious leaders piled on more laws of their own. These impossible demands exacted a toll, not just spiritually, but socially as the Jewish Law also influenced every Jew’s social status.
Jesus saved his harshest criticism for the religious leaders. He encouraged others not to follow their example for “They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” (Matthew 23:4). Those Jewish leaders were like many of the social media influencers of our day: perfect hair, toothpaste-ad smiles, and impossibly well-behaved children.
But Jesus has good news—rest for our souls. It wasn’t the first time God had promised relief for the weary. Jesus was echoing Jeremiah 6:16, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.”
God’s promise sounds wonderful, but it’s followed by an unexpected twist. The people were exhausted and looking for an easier road. But wait... they rejected it??
We might be exhausted too; spiritually, physically, or emotionally, but it turns out we’re the ones who built the treadmill! Rather than walking in the way of Jesus, we choose the way of status and symbol. Instead of being known by God, we want to be seen by others. Instead of following him beside peaceful streams and quiet waters, we want to keep climbing the unscalable mountains of comparison.
What are the engines that keep your treadmill turning? The ones that have you exhausted, running to keep up, but getting you nowhere?
Perhaps it’s physical exhaustion, running yourself ragged trying to get everything done. Fearing that God won’t provide. To your exhausted body, Jesus has an offer, Come.
Perhaps it’s emotional exhaustion, fearing your life will lack significance or heaping your own impossible expectations upon others. To your exhausted heart, Jesus has an invitation for you, Learn from Me.
Perhaps it’s spiritual exhaustion, believing that you aren’t enough, that you don’t do enough—for others or for God. To your exhausted soul, Jesus has good news, Rest.
Take his yoke, his easy burden, his light heart. He has everything to give you. Come and rest. Let go of comparison and pointless striving. Step off the treadmill. You don’t ever have to go back.