LEARNING DAILY

 

Matthew 11:28,29, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you find rest for your souls.” Jesus

 

I really like this verse and am encouraged by it. So, I thought I would write more about it. Be encouraged!

 

This is a wonderful invitation for anyone who is burdened or troubled with the troubles of life – the often monotony, overwork, responsibilities, tensions, and often misunderstood words we say and intentions we often offer. To be heavy laden is to have some heavy weight placed upon us from an outside source. How many of you have had someone misunderstand something you said or misunderstand your intention to do something? Go back over the short list of things mentioned above and consider how many of these things can cause burnout in one’s life. The Lord Jesus Christ wants us to come to Him with the things that cause us to be “heavy laden” so He can give us rest. But do not misunderstand that this rest is not to be absent from work but to be rejuvenated and refreshed by Him” (DJSB). By coming to Him, He means to ask Him into our life and to walk with Him on the narrow way. When we do that, He frees us from those heavy burdens and gives us rest and peace through life. I know this becomes a daily occurrence for me; I need to give Him those things that cause me to be troubled as life happens.

 

In Jesus’ time, taking the yoke of another meant coming under the leadership of another and walking in that person’s footsteps. He was telling us, in the verse above, that to take His yoke is to place our lives into His hands, we can live each day without the stress. Do you really believe that? That is why we spend time in His Word and spend time in prayer. That is the way to walk with Him day-to-day! This also refers to the stress put on us to keep God’s commandments without failure. 1 John 5:3 tells us, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” Walking on the narrow way is not a burden for us because He is with us. The next verse tells us, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” The faith that overcomes the world takes the yoke of Jesus and learns from Him. When we do that, we can experience the love of God to such an extent that the pleasures of the world, the values the world keeps pushing on us, materialism, and burdens others place on us lose their power over us. In fact, we might even look upon this with disgust.

 

Jesus Christ has overcome the world; the world cannot “repossess” from Him due to His victory.  Take the yoke Jesus offers and find the rest found in Him. That’s what I plan to do today!

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB.