Is the Yoke on You?

Mat 11:28-30  "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  NIV

If the above words of Jesus were all you ever read from the Bible you might conclude that following Jesus was practically effortless. You might think calling yourself a "Christian" was all it takes to come to Jesus and be one who will spend eternity with Jesus.

Certainly everything that Jesus says is true, including what He said about His yoke being easy and His burden being light. But I'd like to point out to you what a yoke is, and what a burden is.

A yoke is a device that generally consists of a crosspiece and two bow shaped pieces that go over the heads of two animals, usually oxen, so they can work together. The purpose for being yoked to to work.

This passage of Scripture even mentions a burden, or task, that is light. But we need to remember that although the burden is light, there is a real burden, a real task to do, if we are united with Jesus.

It's interesting to look at the preceding verses, especially verse 20 where Jesus denounces cities which did not repent, despite having seen so many of His miracles. The people of those cities had chosen to reject Jesus. They chose not to be yoked together with Him. He made it clear that the consequences for them on the day of judgment will be severe.

Is the yoke that is on Jesus really also on you? Are you bound together with Him for whatever work, for whatever tasks you are called to do with Hiim?

Sometimes those tasks may seem hard. But remember that if God calls you to a task, and you are yoked to Jesus, that He's the strong one and He'll do whatever He needs to do to see that the job gets accomplished successfully.

We need to come to Jesus. We need to learn from Him, which should include learning from Scripture what He has told us He wants us to learn. And we need to acknowledge that we're to be yoked to Him to be involved in the very work of God.

Is the yoke of Jesus on you? Or do you choose to reject Jesus like the people in the cities Jesus denounced. I urge you and me both to willingly and gratefully accept being yoked with the One who loves us so much that He suffered and died for us.