Pastor’s Corner: “Beautiful Invitation”
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) – 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
This scripture is a beautiful invitation from Jesus Himself to those who are tired and worn out from carrying heavy burdens to come to Him for rest, but I think we often misunderstand what He is offering. When stresses and problems weigh us down, the most natural response is to ask God for relief: “Lord, I can’t carry this anymore. I’m going to leave it here with you.” We then unload our burdens like a bag of garbage at Jesus feet and then walk away to do our own thing. We might feel some initial relief, but then shortly thereafter it feels like those burdens are back. Things have not really changed. And in the back of our mind we start to doubt that Jesus can help us at all. We repeat this process until we become discouraged and just stop coming to Jesus.
What we don’t understand is that God doesn’t operate this way. A yoke is a wooden beam normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs. Christ’s invitation is to join Him in the yoke so you can walk and work together. He doesn’t want just your burden; He wants you! The yoke of Christ is a symbol of discipleship, characterized by submission and obedience to Him. God’s goal isn’t simply to give relief by removing a weighty trial or affliction; He longs to draw you to Himself in a close and trusting relationship. When we remove ourselves from this yoke or connection to Christ, there will never be relief.
The process of lightening the load begins with learning to know and understand the Lord. The burden is not necessarily removed, but our thoughts and responses are changed as we begin to love Him, trust Him, believe His promises, and rely on His power. Then, as the weight of the affliction shifts from our shoulders to His, we will discover relief, although the situation may remain unchanged.
When we are yoked with Jesus, the result is rest for our soul. Life’s pressures may not lessen, but if you are intimately linked with Jesus, your soul is free from churning anxiety, and His peace is ruling in your heart. If you pace yourself with Him, your burden will be easy. But if you take a passive approach to the relationship, you’ll be painfully dragged along in the yoke because Jesus keeps walking. Or if you try to race ahead or turn off in another direction, the yoke will chafe your neck and your life will be uncomfortable.
Jesus uses three verbs in this verse: come, learn, and take. What a beautiful invitation. Jesus says, Come to me. Team up with me. Then, learn how I do it. Take on a lighter load. This is going to reduce your stress. This is going to make it easier for you to navigate. Basically Jesus is saying to you, I have a work for you to do, and I want to take the reins of your life. Frank Sinatra used to sing the song “I Did It My Way” and I am afraid that we all have sung that song. Our way can often lead to a lot of misery and pain. The load can get so heavy that we wonder if we will be able to bear it.
But, when you’re yoked with Christ, you move together with Him. You move in the same direction and at the same speed. And you move in the right direction and at the right speed. Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG) – 28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton