In Mathew 11:28-30 we read, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Every disciple of Jesus learns from Jesus. We have Jesus as our forerunner to look to him and learn from him. When Jesus was on this earth, he was in perfect rest and that is the life that we also need to live. We have all heard about a yoke and its use. In the yoke of the Christian life, Jesus holds one side and makes our Christian life easy and light. It is the perfect will of God for us to be in peace at all times.
In John 13 we read of the instance where Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. He tells them in verse 15, “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.” We need to learn this gentle and humble nature of Jesus always willing to serve others. We need to take care of the needs of others. When we are part of a church, we will have many instances where we can serve others and through these instances we will see how we are selfish about taking care of our own needs. We have a choice to take – do we want to take care of our own needs or are we willing to serve others at the expense of our comfort. We know of the story of Mary and Martha where Jesus praised Mary for choosing the good part. Which part are we willing to choose? We can choose if we want to learn from Jesus or do we want to be busy in other things. Are we willing to choose to learn gentleness and humility from Jesus? Jesus’ yoke is easy to be part of. He will lead the way; we just need to follow the lead. Are we willing to take the yoke? We need to be humble in order to allow ourselves to be part of the yoke. In Philippians 2:3-5 we read, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,” This was the attitude of Jesus which made the Father to say, “This is my beloved Child in whom I am well-pleased”
In areas where we are weary and heavy laden; we need to take the yoke of Jesus, then we can have rest. If we don’t have a partnership with Jesus, the Christian journey becomes burdensome. Jesus yoke is easy and His burden light. It is God’s will for us that we shouldn’t be weary and we shouldn’t lose heart. We all have an ambition in our heart to please God, but because of some reasons we may not be able to please God. This may lead to a weary and dry state in our Christian life. But this verse shows us that we don’t have to continue in that state of weariness. In Genesis 29 we read of Jacob, how 7 years seemed to him like days because of his love for Rachel. If we have this great love in our heart to our bridegroom, we too will not find the Christian life burdensome. How is my love towards Jesus? Do I find joy in serving Jesus? If that is not there, we will find this life burdensome. Our foundation should be rooted and grounded in love for Jesus. If not, all that we do will be burnt down on the final day. Jesus was able to endure the cross because he knew the joy set before Him. The joy of the Lord is our strength! Let that be true in our lives always.
In Hebrews 3 and 4 we read of the Israelites that because of their unbelief they were unable to enter into the rest. This is a great warning for us. In times of uncertainty and difficulties we shouldn’t have a heart of unbelief. Let us believe that we too can experience this life of rest that is promised for us. If we live continually with a gentle and humble heart, learning constantly from Jesus we can have a life of rest.
