Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30 (CSB)

Jesus is calling out to you. You may feel weary and burdened by the pressures of this world or by your own value system of goodness, but the truth is that following religious systems, rules, or political leaders will not lift that burden. Jesus’ rest is completely different from anything else that might promise to ease your burdens.

A humble and lowly savior calls us to come to him and take his yoke. Taking Jesus’ yoke requires taking off your own yoke – you can’t keep clinging to other offers of rest. Putting on the new yoke compels us to admit that our yoke did not work, which in turn gives us over to a new master. Are you willing to take his yoke? If you already took it, are you willing to learn from the humble master? 

This new yoke is borne by both master and servant. For example, when a father helps his child carry something to a destination, the load is carried by both. The father knows if the child is too weak, stumbles, or even fears the load that he will bear the weight of the whole load. As Jesus perfectly walked this life, he became as under the law to show the Pharisees and Jews that he came to fulfill the law. As a servant leader, Jesus showed an authority that the tax collectors and rulers desired. As the one true God, Jesus was the Light to pagans who had made their gods with their hands because of their longing to know the divine.

With Jesus’ yoke upon us, our work is to remain in Christ. John 15:4 states, “Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.” To remain in Christ, we should be speaking to God in prayer, reading God’s letter to us - the Bible, thinking and meditating on the Bible passages you read, and listening to preaching and teaching at a local church. As we remain in Christ the Holy Spirit will work incredible things in us. Galatians 5:22-23b says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

Jesus is a gracious master. He does not zap us into robotic obedience once we take his yoke. We still have our own free will and sinful habits. But as weary burdened people, we can come to Jesus, soak in his words and rest in him. And as we rest, he will be changing us to look and act more and more like Him everyday. Come to Jesus today!