Lighten Up

Lighten Up

Read: Matthew 11:28-30

“My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:30

“If He bids us carry a burden, He carries it also.”

—Charles Spurgeon

IN WORD This can be a comforting verse. It can also be a diagnostic tool. We can measure our lives by it and know whether we are enjoying the relationship with Jesus that He intended.

Most of us frequently find ourselves stressed, burdened, overwhelmed, and frustrated. When this is the case, especially for long periods of time, we can know that something is wrong. Jesus does not intend for us to walk through this life alone. He does not mean for us to take assignments from Him, or from “fate,” and carry them out in our own strength and by our own plans of action. His purpose is to be intimately involved and acutely present in the details of our lives. In fact, our lives become His.

What is the reason for our being overly burdened? Are we resisting His guidance and living with the consequences of rebellion? Then we will be overwhelmed with our own independence. Or is it more subtle than that? Whenever we obsess about problems, we deny Scripture’s command to cast our anxiety upon the Lord (Philippians 4:6, 1 Peter 5:7). Whenever we dread the impending future, we are not exercising faith in the sovereign Lord of our circumstances. Or, more pointedly in the context of this verse, whenever we try to live up to His holiness in the strength of our sinful flesh, trying to achieve our own righteousness, we deny the life-giving Spirit and full identity in Him that He offers us.

IN DEED Trying to do too much, whether in the chores of life or the righteousness of the law, is actually a form of pride. It’s a subtle form; it seems to be dutiful and humble, but it actually stakes a claim that we are sufficient in ourselves to accomplish God’s purposes. We aren’t, not by a long shot. Only He is sufficient. There is something profoundly restful about knowing that. Accept the offer of His yoke and His burden. It’s a liberating submission.