TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU.
Jesus gives us one of the greatest promises in the Bible but most Christians only apply approximately half of the passage."(28) Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (29) Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (30) For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30.
If you want to know who Jesus Christ is and what His ways are then you have to first take His yoke upon you. No real learning will ever take place in our hearts or minds unless we apply this principle to our lives.
We may want to pray for this in a specific way like," Lord I really need your yoke in my heart because I want to learn of you." How many times did we try and learn something in the Bible without applying this principle to our lives? The answer could range in the hundreds or thousands. The yoke of Jesus is warm. This is why many people worship before they study the Bible.
The problem is birthed when Christians just go through the motions and don't even know why they are doing what they are doing. Go to church, sing, study, pray........o.k. Their body is present. What about real life? We go to our jobs, interact with family and friends, deal with an angry driver that cuts in front of us or it could be anything good or bad. Are we going through these motions with the yoke of Jesus in our hearts?
It is hard but we would be wise to pray for this everyday. Jesus is saying "After" you do this then learn of Me. Reading the Bible, listening to a Christian brother or sister in the Lord talk or hearing the voice of Jesus Christ in prayer. One of the things we should look into is the next part of this verse.....for I am meek and lowly in heart.
I'm getting the impression that Jesus is giving us a hint as to where to start in this journey of our walk with Him. Our Lord is telling us that He is meek and lowly in heart. I see very few meek people in life but I can spot one a mile away. When I see a person that has these character qualities I actually go out of my way to try and talk with him or her.
A meek person is not just average and easy going. Meek people go deeper than that because gentleness and being humble at the same time seems to be the common denominator for meekness. They are the type of people in a social setting that don't mind being alone and very gracious and receptive if you speak to them. If what I said is true then on the one hand Jesus is all powerful but on the other hand Jesus is meek and lowly in heart but will speak with authority in love to us. We serve a great God. I don't know how all that is possible but this is just a glimpse of who Jesus Christ is as the Second Person of the Triune Godhead.
Do you need rest for your soul? This is a question that Jesus is actually posing but He is not asking if we need rest for our body. Are you being abused, feeling hurt or just so fearful in life? The bottom line is we need rest for our souls. Imagine we are climbing up a mountain and finally get to the top and all out of breath. Would we sit down or complain that we can't climb another mountain?
Listen I know people who would say, "I want a hot cup of coffee, some kind of shelter, I want to talk to people and I want a full course meal. We don't want to climb another mountain when we are out of breath. We want rest and in like manner our souls need rest but Jesus is the only person who can impart this within us. I could not imagine walking through life without Jesus Christ.
Our Lord even gives us more assurance when He goes on to say My yoke is easy. There are yokes that are heavy. All we have to do is look at our own heart. This thing has been bothering me for years or that person brings out the worst in me. A heavy yoke can come about from a number of different situations but the yoke of Jesus is easy.
We need to let Jesus replace our yoke with His yoke. You can relate to this. When we have all these things to do in life we often times become anxious. We have many burdens and sometimes we just take a deep breath and even wonder why we have to invest anything in this world because it is getting worse by the minute.
We become heavy laden because of the burdens in our life. Is the burden of our Lord heavy or light? Let me answer the question this way. Jesus may be the author of a very tough trial in our life but His burden is light. This is an opportunity for an easy yoke and a light burden to be present in our souls as we walk through life.
If you don't know the Lord I can tell you this and that would be the yoke and burden of the devil is hard and heavy. The yoke and burden of Jesus Christ is easy and light. Your life may not be easy but the yoke of Jesus Christ is so why not accept Him into your heart today/tonight because your Savior and Comforter is waiting for you. To invest your life and spend eternity away from this love is an exercise in futility at best. Choose light as opposed to darkness and learn about your Creator who is Jesus Christ.
Love
Bpb D
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