Take my yoke upon you…
But why? Why would we take a yoke?
Well you might take on a yoke if doing so didn’t add to your burden but instead lifted the burden. The ancient yokes often had a movable pin or connecting bar that went to the plow or wagon. The pin could be moved toward the larger, stronger animal. Being yoked to Jesus with Jesus willing and able to take the larger portion of all burdens, well that is comfort.
Rest and or Strength- whichever we need now, maybe even both at once- what is your pin number? With God, with joining with God there is a purpose bigger than us all. Telling the world, the Good News of Jesus Christ- sharing God’s glory. Helping people have joy and abundant life now- heaven in the future
The key for the church, to make disciples for the transformation of the world is not so much in how or where but in the why?
My Dad’s garden wall for mom- he couldn’t do it, couldn’t overcome the pain and weariness of the brain cancer by simply knowing where to build it and he did, he couldn’t do it by his merely knowing the how, and he sure knew how to build it. The “Why” got him off the couch. He wanted to leave something tangible, life changing for my mom and us all that would outlive his life. So in the final weeks of that cancer he hooked up the garden tractor and wagon every morning, went to the stream, lowered himself on his belly into the waters, picked up stones until he could no more and then hauled himself out of that stream and built that rock wall garden, one stone at a time, day after day. He knew the why.
Every one of us has had our own journey with Christ, with God. Every one of us has our own great memories of what God has done for us in times that no one else could, nothing else could. The world is full of people on every corner who are going through things, if we will help people know what we know- in ways that are good news to them- then each of us will leave a God given legacy that will change our part of this world.
Our own yoke stories are needed by others. If we are right now the ones who need to check the pin number, then maybe we are about to find our next yoke story.
Our children and our grandchildren will notice. They will have better lives. Our neighbors, our cousins, our