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29 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. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30 NKJV
Do We Desire To Serve God?
These words of Jesus come to us today as we look upon our desire to serve God.
“Take My yoke,” Jesus says. Jesus is essentially asking each of us if we will take it.
Will we? Would we even consider doing the work that Jesus wants us to do?
We might be pondering what a lifetime of service as a worker for God might look like. Do you foresee it to be a difficult journey? Will there be days of drudgery and weariness? Will teaching, preaching, or serving the needy and homeless be a chore that we chafe under?
Jesus As A Servant
Jesus served more than anyone ever has, or ever will. He prayed to God often before dawn. He then healed and taught and ministered to the multitudes and taught His disciples until dark. Scripture tells us that there was often no time to even eat. The press of the multitude gave Jesus little space, literally and figuratively.
Yet, what is Jesus saying about His Life of service and of ours?
The Yoke
Jesus tells us to take our yoke in the willing manner that He took up His yoke. Our Savior is saying to learn from Him, and in doing so, to follow His example.
A yoke was placed upon the shoulders of animals and sometimes on the shoulders of people to help them bear heavy loads.
It is not easy to bear such a thing from the standpoint of human strength.
Carry it a while longer and it feels even heavier.
Carry it further still and you eventually deal with total exhaustion.
Jesus, however, was not grumbling about the yoke He carried.
Instead, He was gentle in His dealings with others despite His workload. He wasn’t boastful about all He was doing as we humans so often are. Instead, He was lowly and humble in heart. He tells us that we will find rest for our souls, deep heart rest for our innermost beings, as we copy Him.
The Burden
Lastly, in this passage, Jesus goes so far as to say that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
Does this seem impossible to us?
Have you ever heard someone tell young people on the brink of career choice to find work they love. If they work at that which they love, they are told, it will not be work. It will be a joy and their work a pleasure.
It will not seem like work at all.
The drudgery of daily living is gone in the joy of the mission.
Likewise, when we take the yoke and burden that Jesus took, we are to take it with a full love for God as Jesus did.
Nothing pleased Jesus more than pleasing His Father God.
Nothing was greater in Jesus’ mind than to do the Will of His Father in Heaven.
Love That Takes the Weight Away
It all seemed joy to Him because all He did was done in love.
The work we do for a beloved husband or our precious children is done with love and therefore the load is lightened.
Do we love God with a love even greater than that which we have for our loved ones on earth? Do we serve God with love and with our hearts fully devoted to doing that which God wants us to do?
Our Yoke and Burden Become Light Too
When we do, we have taken the yoke and burden God has for us in the manner of Jesus. We will also find that our yoke is easy and our burden is light.