Jul 25

Matthew 11:28-30
Memorise Matthew 11:29
“…Submission to Christ will give us true joy, peace and rest for our souls…”

A yoke is a wooden beam that is placed across the heads or the shoulders of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull a load. It is often used metaphorically in the Bible to represent a burden. In this passage, Christ uses the term “bearing His yoke” to refer to submission to Him. This means to accept Him as our Lord and Saviour and to live according to His will. It involves a spirit of meekness and humility fashioned after Christ Himself as our Master is “meek and lowly in heart”. The servant is not above his Master. Jesus then makes a seemingly paradoxical statement when He calls His yoke easy and light to bear. However, we realise that this is not a contradiction when we consider how submission to Christ actually frees us from many grevious burdens. Firstly, we are freed from the slavery of sin and can now choose not to sin when once we could not do anything but sin. Secondly, we are freed from being under the law and God’s judgment. The Pharisees in Jesus’ time had burdened the people with countless laws that were like weights that were too heavy to bear. Thirdly, while previously we had to bear our burdens and sufferings alone, we now submit to God’s will; and because of that, He will enable us to overcome our sufferings and will not let us go through anything that we cannot bear with His help (1 Corinthians 10:13). Jesus promises us “rest unto our souls” if we submit to Him. The rest He gives is a true, refreshing rest that will strengthen and nourish our souls.

Submission to Christ may seem like a yoke or burden on the surface but if we think about it, we can see that Christ is right in saying that “His yoke is easy, and His burden is light”. Consider the yoke of not submitting to Christ; this yoke is far heavier to bear. If we do not believe in Christ as our Saviour, we suffer under the burden of trying to perform good works to earn our way into salvation, instead of being free to so good works to please God and show love to our fellow men. If we do not submit to God’s approved way of doing things, we find that the consequences and guilt of sinning will weigh us down, like a millstone around our necks. Submission to Christ, on the other hand, will give us true joy, peace and rest for our souls.

Thought: Ask yourself truthfully whether you are willingly submitting to Christ in your life.
Prayer: Grant me meekness and humility to submit to Thee, Lord.