Light and easy

“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.” – Jesus Christ

I heard a joke.  How do you create a small company?  Answer: Over-regulate a big one and wait a few years!

[Good one, eh?  I'll wait for you to catch your breath.]

Bureaucracies have a tendency to make things more complicated than they need to be, don’t they?  A free-market economy, for instance, offers people wide-open opportunity to pursue their financial dreams, creating goods and services – and jobs – in the process.  And open-market competition protects consumers from pricing excess.  (“She's charging you a dollar?  I'll do it for 98 cents!”)  When constraints are imposed through administrative overreach, however, costs and prices rise while risk-taking and employment dwindle.  And somewhere a golden goose detects its doom! 

As much as we bemoan the burdens that arise from regulatory excess, we do the same thing to ourselves in a spiritual sense.  Don’t believe me?  Ask yourself these two questions:  Does Jesus’ yoke feel easy to me?  Does Jesus’ burden feel light to me?  If you could not answer “yes,” at least you have plenty of company.  We might share a new one-liner:  How do you create a heavy burden?  Answer: Take Jesus’ light one and wait a few days!  [OK, so we’re not laughing this time.]

So what happened?  How did easy bog down into difficult?  How did light expand into heavy? 

When Jesus walked the earth, his daily agenda was clear: he said only what the Father told him to say and did only what the Father told him to do.  He listened for his instructions and simply obeyed them.  We, on the other hand, tend to over-regulate ourselves; we add our own agenda items to God's to-do list.  And so our yokes become burdensome.  

So here are a few suggestions that might help us live “light and easy.”  Instead of dreaming up what we want to do for God, let’s limit ourselves to what God wants to do through us.  (No worries; there will be plenty.)  Rather than doing everything ourselves, let’s trust God also to work through others as he has called and gifted them to do.  And why not try this: take a blank calendar, schedule Bible and prayer time with God on each day, and then – and only then – fill in the rest of our schedules. 

One more thing.  Believe.  Read how much God loves you and believe him.  Read how Christ has made you one with him and believe him.  Read that Christ lives in you and believe him.  Read about how he has completely forgiven you and believe him.  Read about the power of Christ working in and through you and believe him.  Read how he goes with you and believe him. 

For when we simply trust God and then obey his directives in faith, his yolk is actually joyful and his burden, an honor.

[Click here to read the daily devotional in Matthew 11:25-30.]

Nehemiah 2:1-8 Prayer First

Perhaps it is best to read these 8 verses in Nehemiah, before going any further. It may sometimes seem as though we are backtracking or repeating as you read the Daily Bible Blast, however there is meaning and purpose in the progression. This link will bring you to the new BibleGateway.com. There you can read, or click the speaker button to simply listen to: Nehemiah 2: 1-8

 

With great respect to God and the king, Nehemiah made his request to go to Jerusalem. He did not immediately blurt out to King Artaxerxes the burden that was upon his heart when the king inquired. He instead "prayed to the Lord of heaven," and then replied to the king, beginning with "If it pleases the king...."

Nehemiah did not immediately flee from his responsibilities as the cup-bearer to the king, and return to Jerusalem to begin his plight as re-builder of the wall. Though he likely longed to arrive as quickly as possible to get the restructuring under way and protect his people, Nehemiah viewed all of his work as labor for the Lord as the bible calls us to do in Colossians 3:23. (NIV) “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as for the Lord….”

Nehemiah covered all of his bases so to speak. He prayed, sincerely summarized his dismay, and then requested permission to follow through with what he believed was his calling from God. “And because the gracious hand of God was upon me, the king granted my request.” Nehemiah 2:8

From there, the journey was difficult, but because Nehemiah took his time establishing a firm foundation before beginning his mission, he was able to comfortably carry on. He had the approval of the king, and the blessing of the Father.

Dear Lord, your love and grace are far beyond our understanding. We praise and worship you for being such a perfect and awesome God.Though through our imperfection we make mistakes and fall short of what we are called to be, please continue to be patient when we do not go to you first but instead attempt to change and fix things on our own. Nehemiah is an amazing example of how to prioritize and plan. May our hearts be reminded to turn to the ways of those like Nehemiah as we build and rebuild our own Jerusalem. Amen  

The Council at Jerusalem Then and Now

Acts 15: 1-21

 We have heard many times how the Lord accepts everyone into his kingdom, provided they love Him and have faith in him. The truth is, just as back in the days of Paul; people judge others, set limits, and create man made guidelines to be followed rather than simply allowing God to be the ultimate judge. It is as though we have established our own Council at Jerusalem right here, right now. Christ speaks of His burden being light and His yoke easy, yet we attempt to make this journey of faith a difficult and challenging one by enlisting our own criteria for entering into eternal life.

The council in Jerusalem attempted to weight down the Gentiles who were becoming sincere believers by insisting they adhere to Jewish laws. Paul, Barnabas, and the apostles and elders met to consider their claims. What they concluded was eloquently proclaimed by Peter in Acts 15: 6-11, “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that He accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for He purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

God knows the heart.

God sent the Holy Spirit to be with us all.

God’s commands are straight forward, there are ten of them.

God welcomes us all into His heavenly kingdom.........Alleluia! 

Read/Listen to Acts 15: 1-21