Matthew 11:30 – For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.
That which measures the balance of any movement may be considered a yoke. The obligation and servitude to any Master is also a yoke. Yokes are used to place restraints upon those who bear them. When a yoke is used on an animal a long cross beam is used to couple any two beasts of burden together, so that they will move as one. Jesus invites us to come and be yoked together with Him, under His restraint and servitude to God, both in His nature and ministry.
The only yoke we should desire is the yoke of servitude to God that Christ Jesus wore. It is a yoke that measures our lives in the balance of God’s judgment, and a yoke that restrains us to walk as He walks. Being yoked together with Jesus places us under the restraints of doing only what the Father wills. God desires us to function in His faith and to fully represent His government. We have been commissioned to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom with all power and authority; but as long as we live under the yoke of human ability, we will only accomplish what mere men can do.
The yoke of men is heavy and the work is vain, but the servitude we have been called to in Christ Jesus yields a reward that lasts forever. To live our own lives for ourselves is filled with pain and turmoil, both of a weary body and unfulfilled and meaningless soul. The yoke God would have us bear in living the life of Christ is easy and the burden is light, for we find in Him all that we were meant to be.
In this servitude to God, we are not laboring under the cares of this life depending on the arm of flesh for our strength; but doing the will of the Father, we are strengthened by God, Who gives us the ability to do all that He commands (Jeremiah 17:5-8; John 15:1-8). Any challenges and affliction we might bear is light, for it is but for a moment and the reward is an eternal weight in glory (2 Corinthians 4:17; Romans 8:18-21)! We must learn to run in the Spirit and find there a great refreshing, for those who depend on the Lord will never be weary or faint (Isaiah 40:28-31).
Blessings,
Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
