Wanna Yoke up?
I keep coming back to this verse in Matthew from our reading this week.
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30
Yesterday, I read it over and over.
Here's what I'm getting from it...
Life will bring labor, and life will bring heavy burdens. Many of our burdens are brought on by things such as worry, anxiety, grief, pent-up bitterness, anger, depression, financial instability, addictions......
Also, things outside of our realm of control. Such as loss, heartbreak, divorce, children gone astray, husbands gone astray, parents aging, job losses....all of these heavy duty burdens.
So, Jesus is not promising a a care-free life here. Not in any way.
Jesus is offering us rest for our souls.
When our soul is at rest, we reside in peace. The Peace of God.
Let's look at the next verse...
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart...."
By the way, the definition of yoke is to "join together". I had to look it up. ;)
So, I see it like this...
When I became a believer in Christ. something in the spiritual realm happened that encased me in God's Hands. "I am a member of Christ's body" 1 Corinthians 12:27
I became "yoked" to Him when I became a believer. "I am joined to the Lord and one in spirit with Him". 1 Corinthians 6:17
However, because I am flesh and blood....I can get yoked to other things along the way. Almost like a magnet, I can attract some worldly junk. Such as worry, fear, anxiety.....or a million and one other things.
The last line of that scripture is "My yoke is easy and My burden is light".
If His yoke is easy and His burden is light....then whose yoke am I carrying?
Certainly not one that He intended me to carry.
Jesus bore every one of our sins when He died. Every last one of them. Talk about some burdens to carry! So, if His yoke is easy and His burden is light, I can rest in the fact that He intended mine to be even lighter.
There will be trouble, there will be sorrow in this life. However, we must not be self-dependent in handling these things that come our way. Self-dependent is the opposite of Christ-dependent.
Our Fun Friday Challenge:
Take His yoke, my sweet friends. Your soul is need of His rest.
Don't let the enemy fool you and tell you that you have to do a laundry list of things to receive God's peace and rest. The enemy wants nothing more than to make you feel you have to "earn" that peace. In fact, the enemy wants you to be yoked to the world in every possible way.
Our circumstances don't have to disappear in order to receive the Peace and Rest of Jesus.
Let me say that one more time--Our circumstances don't have to disappear in order to receive the Peace and Rest of Jesus.
Jesus' Peace is in spite of our circumstances. Period.
Jesus died for your peace. Yoke up on that little nugget.
yoking up to Jesus,
jill
**Join us in reading along in our reading plan. You can find it here.
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30
Yesterday, I read it over and over.
Here's what I'm getting from it...
Life will bring labor, and life will bring heavy burdens. Many of our burdens are brought on by things such as worry, anxiety, grief, pent-up bitterness, anger, depression, financial instability, addictions......
Also, things outside of our realm of control. Such as loss, heartbreak, divorce, children gone astray, husbands gone astray, parents aging, job losses....all of these heavy duty burdens.
So, Jesus is not promising a a care-free life here. Not in any way.
Jesus is offering us rest for our souls.
When our soul is at rest, we reside in peace. The Peace of God.
Let's look at the next verse...
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart...."
By the way, the definition of yoke is to "join together". I had to look it up. ;)
So, I see it like this...
When I became a believer in Christ. something in the spiritual realm happened that encased me in God's Hands. "I am a member of Christ's body" 1 Corinthians 12:27
I became "yoked" to Him when I became a believer. "I am joined to the Lord and one in spirit with Him". 1 Corinthians 6:17
However, because I am flesh and blood....I can get yoked to other things along the way. Almost like a magnet, I can attract some worldly junk. Such as worry, fear, anxiety.....or a million and one other things.
The last line of that scripture is "My yoke is easy and My burden is light".
If His yoke is easy and His burden is light....then whose yoke am I carrying?
Certainly not one that He intended me to carry.
Jesus bore every one of our sins when He died. Every last one of them. Talk about some burdens to carry! So, if His yoke is easy and His burden is light, I can rest in the fact that He intended mine to be even lighter.
There will be trouble, there will be sorrow in this life. However, we must not be self-dependent in handling these things that come our way. Self-dependent is the opposite of Christ-dependent.
Our Fun Friday Challenge:
Take His yoke, my sweet friends. Your soul is need of His rest.
Don't let the enemy fool you and tell you that you have to do a laundry list of things to receive God's peace and rest. The enemy wants nothing more than to make you feel you have to "earn" that peace. In fact, the enemy wants you to be yoked to the world in every possible way.
Our circumstances don't have to disappear in order to receive the Peace and Rest of Jesus.
Let me say that one more time--Our circumstances don't have to disappear in order to receive the Peace and Rest of Jesus.
Jesus' Peace is in spite of our circumstances. Period.
Jesus died for your peace. Yoke up on that little nugget.
yoking up to Jesus,
jill
**Join us in reading along in our reading plan. You can find it here.
