” Come to Me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
I’ve heard it quoted this way a thousand times. It makes sense. Give Jesus your burden and your load gets lighter. Give Jesus your burden and you trade weary for rest.
Yes, this makes sense. Because who doesn’t want a lighter load. Who doesn’t want rest. We’ve been living with a make-my-life-easier mentality. But we’ve been missing the mark here. When we quote it this way we’ve taken an all-or-nothing gospel and turned it into a take-what-you-want buffet style gospel. And boy have we messed this one up!
We’ve managed to leave out the most important part of this passage. We’ve skipped a verse.
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to Me, all you 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.”
Don’t just take what you’ve heard and run with it. Search out the scriptures for yourself. Is what you are hearing lining up with the word of God?
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart (humble), and you will find rest for your souls.”
It’s a whole other ball game when we throw this verse into the mix. This one’s a game changer.
A yoke is a device used to train an animal to carry its load properly and to obey direction and commands. There are a few different kinds of yoke. Two of which are a single yoke and a double yoke. With a single yoke one is trained to work alone. With a double yoke two are trained to work as a team. One is dominant and leads the other but the two animals are working so closely together that one can’t tell that one is dominant. This article describes the different kinds and functions of a yoke.
When we take His yoke upon us, we’re trading the single yoke for a double yoke. We’re no longer trying to carry the load on our own like the stubborn donkeys we often are. When we take on His yoke we are yoked to Jesus. We learn His ways and learn to work together with Him and allow Him to be the dominant one.
When we try to go it alone, the load just keeps getting heavier and there’s no time for rest because we have too much to do and to far to go. We buckle under the weight of it and we’re tired and wore out and we sometimes lose our way.
He never said He would take away the load. But He makes the load lighter. When we allow ourselves to be yoked to Him, He helps us carry the load. When we learn to do things His way the going gets a lot easier. Learn from Him. Learn His ways.
Psalms 25
From Glory To Glory 