<p>What if the burden of your work isn&#39;t that there&#39;s too much to do — but that there&#39;s an anxiousness in your soul that no productivity system can fix?</p><p>This Sunday we looked at Matthew 11:25-30, sitting with the weight of Jesus&#39; invitation to all who are &quot;heavy laden.&quot; The Greek word for burden, notably, carries with it not just the image of an animal loaded past its capacity — but the idea of spiritual anxiety, an unsettledness beneath the labor. The problem isn&#39;t the workload. It&#39;s the heart beneath it.</p><p>The sermon names what modern marketing has always known: the heart is the most manipulable part of the soul. It longs, aspires, loves — and in a world of unlimited options, it is constantly being pulled toward someone else&#39;s end. We pile on not just more work, but more expectations, more routines, more rituals, more rumors of wisdom. We have become a society of excess baggage. And so the work that was meant to free us buries us instead.</p><p>The answer, Jesus says, is not less work. It&#39;s a different heart. &quot;Take my yoke upon you… for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.&quot; The yoke is a joining — two laboring together. Not handing off, but sharing. </p><p>Thus, when our hearts are shaped by and fused with Christ&#39;s, the work doesn&#39;t merely become easier — it becomes <em>transfigured </em>as rest-full. Work, then, properly received, is itself a way to rest. Spiritual, mental, and bodily satisfaction — not in spite of the labor, but through it. </p><p><strong>Reflection Questions</strong></p><ol><li>What labor and loads have you taken on that are not shared with Christ?</li><li>Conversely, what labor and loads have you tried to give up that were yours to carry in Christ?</li><li>In what labor and loads has your soul experienced rest?</li></ol><p><strong>Scripture: </strong>Matthew 11:25-30; Psalm 40:1-8; Romans 12:1-2; John 14:31; Colossians 3:23</p><p><strong>Voices:</strong></p><ul><li>Dorothy Sayers, <em>Leading Lives That Matter: what we should do and who we should be</em></li><li>Tom Nelson, <em>Work Matters: connecting Sunday worship to Monday work</em></li><li>Sirach 6:24-31 (NRSV)</li><li>Leon Morris, <em>The Gospel according to Matthew</em>, TPNT</li></ul><p><a href="https://christ-city-church.squarespace.com/s/Geting-Out-of-Work_Wk-6_May-17.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Sermon Notes &amp; Liturgy⁠⁠</a></p><p>We take a month or so every year to consider, together, the rhythm of creation according to God&#39;s design: <a href="https://www.christcity.life/sabbath-work-practices">⁠⁠Sabbath &amp; Work⁠</a></p><p>Christ City Church is a small faith family following Jesus together in east Dallas. We gather Sundays at 10:10 AM at the Chapel at Lake Highlands Baptist Church, 642 Brookhurst Dr., Dallas, TX 75218.Learn more at <a href="https://www.christcity.life/">⁠christcity.life</a></p><p></p>