The Best Yoke

        There may be times in your life when you feel just plain worn out. You might find yourself in the condition more times than you would like to admit. When I go to the grocery store and eventually stand in the checkout lane, you get to look at all of the items that they want to tempt you into buying at the last minute. I have noticed a few items that are used to give a person quick energy. It may be a bottle of liquid that you drink that is packed with vitamins or it may be a shot of caffeine. It is a temptation. If you made it to the checkout lane, you are probably tired anyway. There is that physical feeling of weariness but there is also the spiritual side of just being worn out. Stress takes a toll on the human body. At the top of the list is death and sickness. Add that to family problems, disagreements at work, critics of all kinds in your life and a bunch of people who don't feel you meet their standards and you get a feeling of spiritual weariness. Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

         A night of good, sweet sleep can help with some of your physical weariness, but about the spiritual issues that are going on in your life? This is when we need to take heed to the invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ in the above passage. It is easy for us to find ourselves in a state of hard labor and of being heavy laden. In Pilgrim's Progress, the Pilgrim is carrying around a large bag of things on his back which cause him to be bent over. In one version of the account, when Pilgrim looks up at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, the burden rolls off of his back and goes right into the empty tomb. The Apostle Peter put it this way. We can cast all of our care upon Him because He cares for us. First Peter 5:7 reminds us that we can do just that. We can cast all of our cares upon Him. Who of us is not just a tad weary now and then? Who of us doe not find themselves in a state of extra burden upon their spiritual shoulders in their lives? One might think that putting on a yoke is about the last thing that you would want to do but when we find that this new yoke is that of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we discover that He is the Other One in the yoke right along with us. Therefore, the burden becomes light as He carries the load. We need to realize that the blessings of our decision to follow the Lord Jesus Christ being now and not when we pass on through either death or the rapture. There may be those times when we feel that someday all of our sorrows will be made right and that is true, but there is also the fact that the burdens of this life can become lessened by being in the yoke that God has already provided for us. Sometimes our problem still remains with us as we tend to “give them to the LORD,” but then we try to pick them up again and carry them with us anyway. Once you cast them at the feet of the LORD, just leave them there. Praise God today that He is able to take all of your burdens each and every day.