"For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Matthew 11:30
Once there was a carpenter whose skill lay in creating beautiful
yokes. There hung a sign outside his shop which read, "My yokes are
easy". People traveled from miles around to buy them, because
they were specially crafted and fitted for each beast. Farmers knew
their animals would be more content and yield more labor when the
yoke was of a proper fit.
Mankind was never created to bear the yoke of sin. The yoke does not
fit. Satan is a hard taskmaster. He offers enough glitter and
glamour to lure us into his yoke, but once there, he deals in
short-lived pleasures and long-lived regrets. Sinners go from one
uncertain pleasure to another heaping onto themselves more burden
and sorrow. Lasting contentment seems always to be just out of
reach. The longer they remain there, the greater the scars will
remain caused by chafing against sin's yoke.
When we come to Christ, weary and repentant, He welcomes us into a
haven of rest. No longer is life an endless treadmill of
disappointment and despair. We rest in His love and forgiveness and
discover new purpose in life.
The yoke Christ offers is not one of bondage or fear, but rather of
love. Christ knows our strengths and weaknesses. His yoke is
custom-fitted for us. We need not fear bearing it, for this yoke is
formed such that the greatest part of the burden is born by Christ
Himself as He walks along beside us.
Salvation does not remove the burdens of life, but
there is rest and peace in knowing we can yield our burdens to
Christ and He will bear them with us. The yoke is made easy and the
burdens lighter.
-Sister René Smith |
