For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:30
I haven't been able to get this out of my head today. In Sunday School yesterday, the lesson I taught was about living well. When we ran out of time in class, we were discussing how many of us struggle with feeling like we do enough for God, or enough to qualify as *living well*. I do believe that when God wants us to do something, He will nudge at us and sometimes even give us a good shove in the right direction. And there are times that we ignore that voice and that can leave us feeling burdened. Then there are the commands we see in Scripture - for example, I've been feeling burdened for a while now because I know that Jesus says to serve the poor and the foreigner and the oppressed, and I'm not doing that. I want to be like Him so I'm burdened for the things that He was burdened for. But yet... Jesus says this great thing: "my yoke is easy and my burden is light". I can't help but think he must shake his head at us wringing our hands over all the things we aren't doing, still trying to earn our salvation or His love or a reputation as a "good Christian". We keep piling on more good deeds, hoping that one more will be the one that soothes our soul, that God might finally approve of us. And then we are surprised when we are worn out and resentful and our souls are just as dry as they were when we started.
Good news: God loves us, all the time, no matter what. As a parent, this should be so easy for me
to grasp. Do I want my kids to clean their rooms and be polite and
share their dessert? Absolutely. Do I love them any more when they do
those things, or any less when they don't? Absolutely not. So why is
it so hard for me to believe that God loves me this way? I am His child. He says in His word that I am His masterpiece. Wow. So might I consider laying down some of these burdens and rest in His perfect love? Might I remember that God will reveal His plans for me in time? I don't have to force it. As long as I am obedient when I hear His voice in my heart or read His commands in Scripture, then I can let go of some of this guilt and "not good enough" nonsense.
As I was writing this, I was reminded of a video I watched last year that also talks about this easy yoke of Jesus. Rather than just plagiarize the heck out of it here, I'll just link to it. It's just a few minutes long, and so refreshing and good.
