Choosing the Yoke

Choosing the Yoke

After Jesus invites us to himself and gives us rest, He goes a step further. He says to us "Take My yoke upon you and learn from me . . . ." The implications of this instruction almost boggle the mind. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, offers us the privilege of walking with Him each day! Think about what that means. Every day we have Jesus' presence. Not one day goes by that we don't have His guidance. Each day we walk in yoke with the One who can protect and provide for us! What possible reason might we have to decline the yoke?

The construction of Jesus' instruction is much more powerful in the Greek New Testament. Those who heard Him speak these words would have understood that He expected them to choose the yoke immediately. He wasn't offering them something to think about. Instead, He said to them, Take the yoke right now; make your choice right now!

Warren Wiersbe writes that the "come" of verse 28 and the "take" of verse 29 are "crisis" experiences; they need to happen right now! We hear Jesus' invitation to come to Him, and we come. We hear His invitation to take the yoke, and we do it. By the work of God's Spirit in our lives, we know both are the right thing to do.

Discovering the benefits/blessings of coming and taking begin immediately. The discovery process lasts for the rest of our journey with Jesus. We'll continually learn from Him. We'll find deeper levels of rest, peace and trust as we walk with Him in the yoke.

We must understand, however, that the discovery process begins with choices that may well feel like a crisis. Jesus' demands on our lives are always for our best. Choosing obedience often is frightening because we yield control and don't know what to expect.

Jesus comes to us and tells us to choose the yoke. Only a very foolish person would choose to decline the opportunity! (Pastor John Strain)

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: A sinful act involves worship of the wrong kind, submitting ourselves at that moment to serve the appetites of our pride or lust, and so repentance is literally a transfer of our worship back to the One who rightfully owns it..... Worship has been misunderstood as something that arises from a feeling which "comes upon you," but it is vital that we understand that it is rooted in a conscious act of the will, to serve and obey the Lord Jesus Christ. The feelings, the joy of having been forgiven, follow on as a consequence of our reunion with him. Graham Kendrick