“I AM so weary of this miserable world. How I wish I were out of it!” How often we hear this sad speech as we go on life’s journey!
“Weary of this world.” Ah! reader, how little you must know of our loving Saviour if you utter such words as these. “Weary of this world”; did you ever think of the Saviour, how, when He trod this earth, He had not where to lay His head? There was no resting-place for Him, no friend to sympathize; no, He was entirely deserted. He had come down to this earth to win salvation for poor sinners, but was met with rejection on every side, spurned by all, and entirely cast out; yet He had comforting words for all.
Did you ever read those comforting words that He spake to the weary when He was down here? And, reader, they are for you now just as much as they were for the weary then. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor 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 is light.” What more could you want? Won’t you go to Him and get this rest that you need so much? Oh! dear friend, He wants you so much.
Perhaps you are a poor homeless wanderer, with no place on this earth that you can really call your home. If that is so, why, Jesus can give you the very thing you require. Besides rest, He promises a home for all those that come to Him. Read John 14:2: “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place A rest that you may always have, whatever for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” There, poor, weary, anxious one, is just what you want. The Lord is waiting with outstretched arms ready to receive you.
“To Jesus come, and be made whole,
On Him your heavy burden roll,
Come, anxious sinner, come.”
There you have two things offered you — Rest and Home — two things which you sorely need, and now I am going to tell you of a third, and that is Joy. Ah! dear soul, I wonder if you know what it is to have “joy” — real and lasting joy? Oh, the joys of this world are indeed poor compared with what we have if we belong to Christ. You may try to get happiness from this world’s pleasures. You may go to theaters, balls, concerts; they will last you for a time; you may get intoxicated with the bright shows, the whirl of the gay dancing, but what will the harvest be? A heavy head and aching heart, a longing for something more solid, more lasting than what you have had hitherto. Here is the very prescription you require —
Rest, Home, Joy.
trouble may come. You may always have this Rest — Rest of conscience, Rest of heart, and a Home.
No matter how bad you are, there is home and forgiveness. Remember the prodigal son. When he had spent his all, he thought he would go back, and perhaps his father would let him act in place of a servant, but no, his father saw him “afar off; and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him,” and more than that, he said, “Bring forth the best robe, and put it upon him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be merry.” So you see the prodigal had all in returning — Rest, Home, and Joy — and if you only come to Jesus you will have the same. A joy that is lasting, which forever will endure. Only put your trust in Christ, believe that He died for you, and this joy will be yours. “Your joy no man taketh from you” (John 16:2222And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. (John 16:22)).
IT IS A CERTAINTY that at this moment you are either saved and on the way to endless joy in the paradise of God, or unsaved and on the road to eternal perdition with the devil and the lost.
ON WHICH ROAD ARE YOU TRAVELING?