Jesus
told us to take His yoke on us and He would give us rest (Matthew 29:29-30).
Picture a wooden yoke hooking two oxen together to pull a load.
One
oxen alone bears all the burden, but two oxen share the weight and make the
load lighter. Alone in this world without Christ in our life, we are not fully
alive, because our spirit is dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1-5). We barely make it
and even our success is hollow and meaningless.
If
we are yoked with Jesus, He carries the full brunt of the load on His
shoulders. The shared yoke also keeps us in step with Jesus as we traverse life
(Galatians 5:16, 25). We are never alone again.
We
have no worries or fears because our sin nature is dead, and our life is hidden
with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3, Romans 6:5; 1 Corinthians 6:17). Paul
learned this lesson when God used him mightily even while imprisoned (Acts
16:16-40).
Like
Paul, we too can keep our focus on Christ in us (Romans 6; 2 Corinthians
11:23-12:10). Paul considered the loss of his human achievements as trivial
when compared to the joy of serving the Lord (Philippians 3:9).
We
can make it the goal of our day to feast on God's Word in order to feed our
spirit, to nurture our soul with spiritually beneficial activities and to
sustain our body with wholesome foods.
Yoked
with Jesus our burdens lighten, our worries diminish, our fears vanish and our
faith in His faithfulness increases. This intimate union nourishes every part
of our being through every moment of our day.
Prayer:
Lord
Jesus, You invite us to yoke up with You and to permit You to carry our
burdens. We do not crumble under the weight of our circumstances, because we
are yoked as one with You. The closer we live in this union with You, the more
peacefully life transpires for us, regardless of our circumstances. You set us
free from caring about whatever is bothering us.
Because
of Your plan and purpose for our life, we die to this concern and it no longer
has power over our life. If we experience a similar trial, You remind us that
we are dead to this issue. It is no longer a false god or a graven image, which
consumes our time and attention. We experience total freedom in this area. Now,
Satan has less and less to tempt or badger us with in the future.
Thought
for the Day:
When
we follow God’s Spirit each moment of the day, we live in overwhelming peace
and gratitude for all He has done, is doing and will continue to do for us, in us
and through us.
- Colossians 3:15
