Lord of the Sabbath

" Come to me all you are weary and burdened , and I will give you rest " [ Matthew 11:28 ] .

Could any words be more refreshing , more welcome , to women and men weighed down by the struggles of this life , especially the death-dealing burden of sin ?
This invitation , from Jesus Christ himself , promises what we all need most - respite from the evil ways of the world , release from the death penalty our sins have earned us and reunion with the One from whom true peace and every good pleasure flow.
In Jesus , Christians luxuriate in the most blessed kind of rest. We worship our Saviour and typify this spiritual rest in one of our central practises , the celebration of the Sabbath.
In our Sabbath observances , we pause from our normal work to focus on our Maker . We submit to God as Sovereign over creation . We honor the practise of Jesus Christ , who observed the Sabbath as God in the flesh . And we focus , week by week , on the ultimate rest with which God favours us , thanks to Jesus' saving work .