SWORD OF THE SPIRIT                                                                                               1216

“Take My Yoke”

Come to me, all 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

“Come to Me”.  There is a depth of meaning in these three words of Jesus. He did not instruct us to go to someone else, or to an inanimate idol, or to a patron saint, or to a religious tradition. No, He simply instructs us to come to Him.

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. – Revelation 22:17

The enemy of our souls will lie to us and tell us that we are not worthy to answer Jesus’ call to come to Him. Don’t listen to the lie. Read the Truth of the Word of God and respond to the call of the Father and the drawing of the Holy Spirit to come to Jesus.

I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. – Luke 5:32; 19:10; John 6:44

Jesus is calling ‘all who labor and are heavy laden’. There are two application contexts here. We labor and are heavily laden through religiosity – trying to be righteous and worthy of salvation through religious works. We also labor and are heavily laden in our everyday work seeking to provide for the daily needs of our family.

In both contexts Jesus wants to give us rest. He instructs us to let go of the yokes of religious traditions, self-righteousness, and worry and toil and to take His ‘yoke’ upon us.

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. – Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:20

Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. – Matthew 6:25; Philippians 4:19

Jesus uses the metaphor of yoked oxen in His teaching. The yoked oxen learned to pull together and not work against each other. A young ox was often paired with the older, mature ox. The older one did all the work while the young one learned to stay alongside and walk with him.

Imagine being yoked with Jesus. He carried the burden of your sin. You no longer have to bear it. He goes before you and is with you in the workplace. You do not have to carry the weight of providing for your daily needs and the needs of your family – Jesus is carrying it.

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. – 1 John 4:10

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. – Deuteronomy 31:8

Jesus tells us that ‘His yoke easy and His burden is light’. His yoke is a yoke of relationship, not bondage. His yoke is freedom – from worry, anxiety, and condemnation.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. – Romans 8:1

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. – 1 Peter 5:6-7

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. – 1 John 5:3

The Word of God exhorts us to walk with Him.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. – Galatians 5:16

Seek to have an ‘abiding walk’ with Jesus. Not a walk following at a distance, or in front of Him, or behind Him, but a close ‘yoked relationship’ – one where His presence is palpable: you can hear His voice and feel His close presence – seek to be so close that you can hear His heartbeat.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:4-5

May you take His yoke upon you and learn from Him.