Come unto me, all ye that labor 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.
Matthew 11: 28-30
I'm not sure how strongly I believe this. As you're going through life, you'll have an easier time if you keep the commandments then if you break them, but breaking the commandments is a heck of a lot easier than trying to keep them. Which is harder; keeping the commandments, or experiencing difficult circumstances as a result of not keeping the commandments?
In a way, it doesn't matter what's harder. Keeping the commandments is the right decision, even if it's more difficult. Not only is it the right thing to do, it's more rewarding. Even if the initial cost is higher, you're sure to get a higher return, so it's a better investment.
And to make this deal even sweeter, there's someone else who's also invested in it. 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" (Wikipedia, Yoke). When we take Christ's yoke upon us, we're hitching ourselves up to work shoulder-to-shoulder with Him, both pulling the same load.
The alternative is to bear a different burden (maybe lighter, maybe heavier), but to receive no reward for it, and to have to do it alone. When we work with Christ, He helps us and strengthens us, and promises the faithful a great reward.
Taking Christ's yoke upon us is starting to sound like a good deal - the easier and more rewarding of two painfully difficult options. I'm still not sure I'd call it "easy" or "light," but it seems to me that it sure beats the alternative.
1 comment:
I used to think that when we took Christ's yoke upon us that we were taking some of HIS burden, but I don't think that is the case at all. We each have burdens, some self-imposed, some just part of life, some put on us by others, and some, I suppose, that God gives as as part of our strength training. Anyway, I see each of us struggling along trying to pull this really heavy sledge loaded with burdens. Then Christ invites us to take His yoke upon us and He steps in to help pull our load. He doesn't take it all away and do it all Himself. But if we let Him, He helps us with ours. He also helps us follow the better path so we don't find ourselves down in the middle of a steep narrow canyon. Yep, He often has us pulling uphill and it's not easy, but it is much better in the long haul.
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