Leviticus 4-5

Matthew 24:29-51

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me…For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30

Whose yoke are we wearing? Of Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 11:25-30, pastor and author Darrell Johnson states, “The question is not ‘will I wear a yoke?’ The question is ‘whose yoke will I wear?’ Everybody wears a yoke. There are no yokeless human beings. The question is never: ‘will I be a disciple?’ The question is ‘whose disciple will I be?’… From all the spirits that I am pressured, whose will I yield to?” From all the influences around us, what guides and controls our life? Johnson goes on to say, “We are weary because we are wearing the wrong yoke.”

There are all kinds of yokes in our fast-paced Western culture. There is a yoke of busyness, a yoke of distraction, which can lead to an escapism that may even look good, but it is distracting us from the relationship that God has for us. The reality is, even after coming to Jesus and experiencing being yoked to Him, we can drift, put on other yokes and be lured away. Hence, we need to be mindful of continuing to nurture our relationship with Him.

Would we take a moment to reflect and consider our own lives for a few minutes? How are we doing in the midst of everything that we are dealing with in our family, our relationships, our schooling, our career, our finances and our future? Are we feeling weary and heavy laden from our responsibilities? Are we feeling stressed and strained from our expectations? Are we feeling like a hot mess for failing to complete tasks? All of this is a sign for us to realize that we have probably slipped out of the yoke of Jesus and wandered away from our relationship with Him. Yet, the comforting thing about Jesus’s invitation for us to come to Him is that His invitation is not for those who have everything all together in life, but all of us who are feeling distracted, weary and overburdened. Jesus is not asking us to be perfect; He is simply asking us to be present, to come to Him and to learn from Him.

Being yoked with Jesus is not a one-time event in our lives or a destination that we arrive at. The circumstances of life can be difficult, but in the midst of the difficulty, are we going to Jesus, spending time with Him, learning from Him? When we come to Jesus, take His yoke upon us daily—which is a relationship with the Father—we enjoy His rule and reign in our life.

Gracious Lord Jesus, it is so easy to get distracted, wearied and overburdened. Help me to continue to nurture my relationship with You. Thank You, Lord.