The Yoke

 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30......"His "yoke" is the calling we have from Him. It is tailor made for us individually. It is how we can do what we do." Michael Brown

An article from Michael Brown helped me to see this, perhaps, too familiar Scripture in a new and deeper way. In Matthew 11:28-30, I think we tend to emphasize the rest He invites us to, and He does, and it is beautiful. But what thought have we given to the yoke and its makeup? What about the words "easy" and "light?" What do they mean? As Brown points out, Christ nowhere invites us into an easy life. He promises that we will have trouble in this world. He calls us into the fellowship of His sufferings. What's easy and light about these? 

Part of it is in understanding how a yoke works, which most of us non-farm folk don't. A poorly fitted yoke would chaff and cut an ox as he pulled a plow or performed some other labor. Fitting it just right meant that the animal didn't suffer needlessly in the carrying out of his purpose. That's where Brown's above quote comes into clarity. His yoke for us is the calling He has placed upon our lives, and all of us have one. We tend to think only in terms of those called to full time ministry, but He places no such limitations. His calling can place us anywhere doing anything. The point is that wherever we are, we are to be His witness and His presence. Business world, sports world, entertainment world....family world. If you are truly His and if you really seek to be His living will, then where you are is where He's placed you, and He has purpose for you there. And He has fitted you, by His grace, for the task. It's how we can do what it is we do. It's how we can press on in the midst of overwhelming circumstances. It's how we persevere in the pain and hardship. His yoke of grace is upon us, and with and in it, we fulfill our calling.

There are two other points about His yoke and His rest that Brown makes that I need to share. First, a great part of the rest Christ invites us to is a call to rest from the oppressive burden of legalism. Brown says legalism is, "Laws without love. standards without a Savior. Rules without relationship." In Christ we have spiritual rest from all of these......The second point has the illustration of Eric Liddell, the missionary to China who was also an Olympic championship runner, and was the focus of the great movie, "Chariots Of Fire." In the movie, Liddell's sister presses him on his calling to the mission field, and how running in the Olympics will delay its fulfillment. Liddell answers that he knows he's called, but that he also believes that His God had also made him fast and that, "When I run, I feel His pleasure." A great part of the beauty and rest of the yoke is that when we fulfill what He has called us to and created us for, we give Him great and deep pleasure.......May it be that each of us lives out what He has called us to and created us for. May our lives and the fulfillment of our calling give Him pleasure. Great and lasting pleasure.

Blessings,
Pastor O