Come to Jesus and Live
At ten years old, Angelos Siciliano came to America. By sixteen, he was still a scrawny kid getting beat up on the streets of Brooklyn. Picked on constantly. Ridiculed for being small.
One day his school took a field trip to the Brooklyn Museum. While the other boys ran off to see the mummies, Angelos sat on a bench in the lobby. His parents had separated. He had no father figure. No uncles. No one pulling for him. He sat there and felt what a lot of us have felt—like life was just passing him by.
But that kid on the bench didn’t stay there. Angelos Siciliano became Charles Atlas—the most famous bodybuilder of the twentieth century. His magazine ads reached ninety-seven-pound weaklings everywhere with a message: You don’t have to stay the way you are.
That’s not a bad summary of Matthew 11:28–30.
Jesus looked out at a crowd of exhausted people—worn out by religious rules, crushed under the weight of expectations nobody could carry—and He said the most stunning thing: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Three words. Come to Me.
Not “clean yourself up.” Not “figure it out first.” Not “try harder.” Just come.
The Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day had loaded people down with burdens—rules on top of rules, guilt on top of guilt. Life under the Pharisees was an obstacle course with no finish line. And into that exhaustion, Jesus made three invitations.
Come to Me—and find rest. Take My yoke—and find a partner. Learn from Me—and find peace.
A yoke sounds like more weight. But here’s the thing Warren Wiersbe once pointed out: when you’re yoked to Jesus, He’s pulling the load. Life doesn’t get lighter because the problems disappear. It gets lighter because you’re not carrying them alone.
Jesus told us in John 10:10 that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but He came so we could have life to the full. Not survival. Not just getting by. Abundant life.
Would that describe most of us? Or are we still sitting on a bench in the lobby, watching life pass us by?
You weren’t made for the bench. You were made for the road. Yoked to a Savior who does the heavy lifting.
So come. Take. Learn. And live.
Keep Looking Up!
Heaven is closer than you think.
May God bless your day.
Pastor Rodney
Related devotionals: When everything falls apart · John 10:10 abundant life · Why settle for less?
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If today’s devotional spoke to your heart, my books carry these same themes deeper. Stories of God moving in ordinary lives, scripture for tired pastors and weary parents, and steady reminders that heaven is closer than you think.