Matthew 11: 28 - 30 reads, "Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light".
Many of us Belizeans are not familiar with the practice of using a yoke. It is a wooden bar with two loops used to hold two oxen(a kind of cow) together. The two oxen are then used to pull heavy weights or plow fields. We are, however, very familiar with the pressures and expectations of life. That is our yoke. We are expected to go to school, get a good education, get a good job, and maintain ourselves efficiently and succesfully. These are all great and noble things, but Jesus is asking something greater of us.
Jesus is asking us to give Him our burden, our labour to survive and be successful, and take His yoke. He is saying"Com yah all a unu we tiad and unu weh di fight haad fi mek ends meet and unu weh di fight hard fi survive and be successful, and I wah gi unu ress." Jesus keeps His words and promises. The rest that Jesus offers is beyond a physical one; His rest penetrates our entire being.
Why give up our fight to be successful? If we are to be responsible people, then this is what we must do, right? Let us look at our lives when we are fighting to be successful. It is void of peace and rest. Why? Because we are not able to work at being successful and be at peace and rest at the same time. In our fight, we are focused on the fact that it is 'me' that has make things happen. Rest communicates a slowing down of us reaching our goal. Peace is out the window, because we are constantly on edge to 'make life work' Even when we are very successful, the drive to protect what we have work for, to keep it and keep getting better, keeps us from rest. We are constantly in need of defending our lifestyle, job positions, the best we know how and rest and peace are not present.
Jesus offers peace and rest when we give that fight to Him and yoke ourselves with Him. When we are yoked with Him, He shows us how to live life the way He created life to be lived. Living life God's way keeps God's peace and rest at the foundation of our lives, and we don't have to fight anymore. As our Father, He makes the way for us. The responsibilities we have in life are not burdensome anymore, because Jesus shows us how manage and fulfill them. Our goals in life are redefined to become focus on what is truly important. Our needs are not our enemies anymore, for our Father meets them all. We don't have to worry about the future, and economic down turns, and the devastating effects of natural disasters, because God knows the future, and He has it covered. The feeling of being alone in the fight of making life successful, in the daily labour of providing for our families, is eliminated because God is directing our lives. And when we are successful, we doing have to fight to maintain it, because our focus is not on being successful, but on what truly matters. And why is God qualified to offer all this? He is the creator of life, and His life is abundant and successful.
Does this happen in an instant? Nope! Our hearts must change, and our mind sets must be renewed to embrace this invitation, this new way of living. We learn from Jesus when we choose to be yoked with Him, and as we walk with Him. It is a relationship and therefore a process. Instead of responding to life's burden the way we learned to, we now look to God, and allow Him to teach us. Living life God's way will not eliminate our responsibilities. It will not change the fact that we need to have a source of income to survive in this world. It will not take away the ups and downs, the valleys and mountains, the storms, hurricanes, or sunshine that life brings our way. It will change how we live. Our lives will be rooted in God's peace and rest, and it will flow efficiently and successfully, no matter what disadvantage or advantage we started our life with.
Let us allow the Creator of life, who would therefore know how to live it, teach us how to life our lives so in such a way that God's peace and rest grounds us daily. There is a line from the song 'I will run To you' by Hillsong which says; "Lord let me live in the glory of Your grace". That is where I choose to live. All else flows from this. Matthew 6: 33 says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be yours as well." God knows the best way to live, and He knows our needs. Let Him teach us.
