First Aid for the Faithful

Abstract: A.C. Loizos commends Come, You Weary by Michael Reeves as a refreshing reminder of the rest that God provides us with in Christ. Though Reeves’s message in this short book may not be new to most readers, its beauty is found in its simplicity, for we are presented with the basic but easily forgotten truths of God’s love and the satisfaction that can only be found in Christ. As the truths of the gospel fill our heads, the joy of beholding Christ by faith should fill our hearts.

Michael Reeves, Come, You Weary: Enjoy Christ’s Comfort. Union Publishing, 2025. 62 pages.

Often, the persistent, faithful laboring of the pastor can feel like trekking up an endless mountainside in a perpetual blizzard. The icy pellets of critics constantly sting your face. The winds of culture threaten to push you off course. Lack of spiritual progress in those you’ve so heavily invested in envelops you like a snowy whiteout, shrouding the way forward. In time, every step forward feels like a step closer to being overwhelmed, and many begin to wonder how, or even why, they should continue up the mountain. Those who were once zealous alpinists, glowingly determined to reach the summit, now find themselves searching for the nearest ski lift back down to the base. To the reader who finds themselves in such a place, I daresay that Michael Reeves’s short book is like catching a glimpse of light through the snowfall and, upon further searching, finding that it emanates from the soft, candlelit glow of a well-warmed cabin. Here is a place where the tired and cold can find comfort; the spent and stung might receive respite. In short, this book, true to its name, is a place for the weary, and it bids you come.

In the opening chapter, Reeves gently cracks open the door and, placing an arm around all the exhausted, worn, downtrodden ministers of the Word, warmly invites them in for a drink. As he says, “To you, today—wherever you are and whatever you are feeling. Come to the waters. Come, without money and without price. Don’t let your emptiness become a constant state, but recognise it as a thirst, and drink deeply from this fountain” (14). Refreshingly, what Reeves offers is not his own brewed concoction of encouragement and motivation. Rather, he extends to the reader a cup drawn from the living, animating well of the Word of God.

This is the author’s emphasis in the second chapter, where the weary worker’s thoughts are directed by the signposts of Scripture to the future image of Christ, exalted. Reeves meets his reader as a guide by exclaiming, “We need a fresh vision: the enlightening sight of the glory that confers vitality” (16). He spends the rest of this chapter framing and mounting this portrait of the Lord who holds “all things under his feet” (Eph. 1:22a) so that we might see that no matter how defeated we feel, Jesus is, and always will be, victorious. Chapter 3 then offers a beautiful linking of logic and love to show how we, as fallen humans, are now partakers of this victory. Yet, being reminded of position, alone, is often not enough to raise the spirits of the deeply discouraged.

This is, precisely, why Reeves spends the next two chapters drawing out the heart of Jesus for his people. Reflect on the author’s words, here:

Weary, stumbling Christian, since Christ has shed his blood for you, do you really think he could not care about you? That you are alone in your weariness and distress? He humbled himself for us; he endured the most awful suffering, rejection, and death for us; and he was exalted for us, to bring us to glory. (26)

This passage wonderfully highlights the beauty of this book: its simplicity. Surely, we know these things to be true. We use them to comfort our hurting brothers and sisters almost daily. But, oh, how difficult it can be to press these into our own wearied hearts! Do you doubt, even now, that the Lord cares for you, if you are his? He gave himself over to death for you. His care is proven, and his commitment to your good shall not waver. Take heart unto glory!

Reeves’s sixth and seventh chapters pull the reader up to a “mountain-top gospel perspective” (31) by showing that ascending intellect should be paired with the lifting heart. This involves realizing that the missio dei will not be disrupted or derailed by his workers’ weaknesses or failures. There is one who heads up God’s plan of salvation, and it’s not any of us. That should allow the faithful, tired minister to relax their shoulders and see that Jesus shares their yoke. Jesus does not lend his strength out of mere duty or obligation.

As the preceding couple of chapters emphasize, Jesus joyfully engages his people as a husband overflowing with love for his bride. It can be particularly easy for pastors and church leaders to, without even realizing it, feel like employees of Jesus. This subtle shift only serves to remove the pressure valve of joy from the crushing pressure of ministry work. But this is not the way Jesus sees his people. Ministers are members of his church, and he is committed by love and blood to his bride. As Reeves puts it, “This is the heavenly bridegroom: one who will not rest, will not stop, until his bride is glorified and all the world gasps at her beauty” (43). This is the love of Christ, overflowing and ever-spilling into the cups of his beloved. Finally, Reeves bids us to stand and ready ourselves for the next leg of our endeavor by showing the reader a picture of the mountain peak.

In Chapter 11, the author forges a chain of passages that are intended to bind the goal of glory to the reader’s chest. The glory of God is both the purpose and goal of the church’s work, and it is to this end that Christ is also working. Reeves describes this conjoined labor simply and beautifully by penning, “Through the church, Christ fills the universe with his glory . . . He will irradiate them with his glory” (52). The author then closes the book by exhorting the reader to remember that this fullness can only be found at the source, and the thirsty must go there to be refreshed. In this way, weariness is a reminder for our souls to come to Jesus and drink.

Now, to those who only make margin for reading books of particular provocation, I admit that Come, You Weary boasts nothing novel nor controversial. Instead, its mereness serves as a finely crafted pedestal, simple in form yet splendid in fashion as it holds high the beauty of Christ. The book neither vies for attention nor distracts from this purpose; nay, its every chapter extends upward to support it. It guides our eyes, which may be tracing downward to the muck and mire, to gaze heavenward upon the once crucified Christ. Reeves is relentless in this, otherwise, mundane way, revealing on nearly every page the majesty of Jesus as the only rest for the weary.

As for length and accessibility, I read this book in one sitting before bed. Additionally, the author has included helpful questions for each chapter to help foster both individual reflection and group discussion. As such, Reeves’s short work is one for both pastors and members to keep close at hand to crack open like a spiritual first aid kit when their hearts are inevitably dragged low by the millstone of the world. In these times, the reader may find that Michael Reeves has lovingly provided both the comforting salve and the hand holds to climb the mountain of glory.