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A Gracious Invitation

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Apr 15, 1902

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 15.

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A Gracious Invitation

To every one who is in trouble the Saviour says, “Come unto me.” No matter how weary you are, or how heavy your burden seems to you, Jesus says to you, “Come unto me . . . and I will give you rest.” This is no formal invitation, no empty promise. From a heart which pities us and desires to help us comes the call, “Come unto me.” From a heart which knows what the struggle with temptation and sin means, comes the promise, “I will give you rest.”
“Come unto me!” It is the Saviour’s voice— The Lord of life, who bids thy heart rejoice; O weary heart, with heavy cares opprest, ‘Come unto me,’ and I will give you rest. “Weary with life’s long struggle, full of pain, O doubting soul, thy Saviour calls again; Thy doubts shall vanish, and thy sorrows cease; ‘Come unto me,’ and I will give you peace. “O dying man, with guilt and sin dismayed, With conscience wakened, of thy God afraid; ’Twixt hopes and fears—O, end the anxious strife!— ‘Come unto me,’ and I will give you life. “Life, rest, and peace, the flowers of deathless bloom, The Saviour gives us,—not beyond the tomb,— But here and now: on earth some glimpse is given Of joys which wait us through the gates of heav’n.”
Does not this bear a message to your heart? Have you tried to carry your own burdens, and found them very heavy? Have you sought peace of mind and rest of soul in some other way than by coming to Jesus? Are you trying to satisfy the longing within your heart by some other means than by giving your heart to Jesus, and accepting him as the complete satisfaction of every right desire? O let his word reach your heart to-day! Let not the deceitfulness of sin shut you out of heaven here and hereafter. Hear the Saviour saying, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.” Ah, when we come to him, he comes into us! And “he is our peace,” and he is our rest. For his sake, and for your soul’s sake, listen to his gracious invitation.