Page 40 - Living Light Spring 2024

Friday April 12 - Chosen to be yoked with Jesus
“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.” Matthew 11:29
For the burdened and heavy-laden Jesus offers his yoke. In New Testament times, reference to a yoke of oxen would be commonplace to Jesus’ hearers. To train an inexperienced ox, it would be yoked with one already trained to plough straight furrows. Initially, the young ox would constantly pull away, wanting to forge its own path, but the mature ox would hold fast. At the end of the day, when the yoke was removed, the cost of the exercise became apparent; the master ox’s skin was torn by the constant abrasion caused by the inexperienced ox’s tendency to pull off course. Eventually, the young ox would learn to walk in the prepared path by following the lead of the master.
An ox tethered to a piece of blood-stained wood for the benefit of another. Does another image spring to mind? This time not an ox but a lamb, the Lamb of God, nailed to a cross on which his blood was shed; all to bring us into line with God’s will, brought into being by walking with Jesus, tethered by his love, and yielding our independence to his leading. By so doing, we learn from him, appropriating his gentleness and humility, bringing rest for our souls. How wonderful is this? So let’s take up his yolk and commit to walking in his ways!
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Lord Jesus, true rest is to be found in the virtues of gentleness and humility. Forgive me; I gladly accept your invitation to be yoked to you. Amen.
Saturday April 13 - Chosen to walk with Jesus “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:30
We started this week with Jesus praying, or should I say talking, to his Father – a conversation which turns into an invitation to all mankind to come to him to find rest. For Jesus, life was a whole, with no religious / secular divide; it was just life, wonderfully eternal, totally worshipful, and amazingly fulfilling. This life was fuelled by his love for his Father and for mankind.
This is the backcloth to the statement “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10) and “to set the captive free” (Luke 4:18). I am sure you agree that it is ‘by grace you have been saved, through faith’ (Ephesians 2:8). If God saves by grace, does he then expect us to live by works – by our own strength and human endeavour? If so then his yoke is anything but easy!
The reality is that we are called to be ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:4). This means that we all become bearers of the nature of God. Therefore the extent to which Jesus’ yoke is easy is dependent on the degree to which we partake in God’s nature. This does not mean that life will be a bed of roses, but that our yoke, our life- source from Jesus, will be easy!
Dear Father, I thank you for saving me and allowing me to carry your life within. Today, may I live this life for your glory. Amen.
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PRAYER FOR TODAY