A Yoke is a Tool for Working Together
Finding God in the Daily
Take my yoke upon you, and learn
from me,
for I am gentle and lowly in heart
for I am gentle and lowly in heart
and you will find rest for your
souls.
Matthew 11:29
God's yoke binds us with Him in a secure relationship that cannot be broken.
TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU is the whole man active. Active again? Absolutely.
The yoke has a function that acts in a spiritual fashion. We take it upon us.
But why?
-Why would we want to do this?
-Why do we do this?
-Why the symbolism in the word, yoke?
Christ tells his children to take his yoke upon us and in doing so we will learn from him. That's a pretty sweet reason. A yoke suggests a joining, a binding together, a union. At salvation, when we chose Christ, we were bound in a heavenly relationship with our heavenly Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Triune, three-in-one, God. The yoke that we take upon us, has a purpose, it instills a relationship which tethers the Trinity and Christ's followers together. The relationship is a living reality and needless-to-say, an interesting concept.
When my father was a boy, my father's dad had a team of horses for working the many functions of a dairy farm. Then one horse from the team died. The other horse was calm until they removed the dead horse from the corral. The live horse went crazy-like and panicked. The newly purchased horse for the team was young and willful. It wanted to pull faster than its partner. Dad's mother or father would have to slow him down so the two would pull together in tandem while pulling the implement.
Metaphorically, God tethers us to the yoke and then we get to the business of learning how to live this spiritual life God's way. Once yoked spiritually as one together, we follow God and are unable to act independent of God without a responding action. When we pull ahead of God, He slows us down. When we fall or drag behind, God lifts us up and helps carry us along. God is in us, with us, and we are dependent on His presence.
God's yoke is a gift. It keeps us on track, and it helps us when we are weak or self-willed. Just watch a team of horses or cattle bound with a harness or yoke, and you will see that they must work together or they will be at odds, which means little will be accomplished and much will be confused.
Christ's followers desperately need His tempering and guidance. This is a kindness to us, not a burden that inhibits our progress. God is becoming our strength as we learn to depend on Him.
We are able then,
-to place our trust in Him
-with our daily stuff
-our scary stuff
-and even our good stuff.
And that's a good thing.
The yoke has a function that acts in a spiritual fashion. We take it upon us.
But why?
-Why would we want to do this?
-Why do we do this?
-Why the symbolism in the word, yoke?
Christ tells his children to take his yoke upon us and in doing so we will learn from him. That's a pretty sweet reason. A yoke suggests a joining, a binding together, a union. At salvation, when we chose Christ, we were bound in a heavenly relationship with our heavenly Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Triune, three-in-one, God. The yoke that we take upon us, has a purpose, it instills a relationship which tethers the Trinity and Christ's followers together. The relationship is a living reality and needless-to-say, an interesting concept.
When my father was a boy, my father's dad had a team of horses for working the many functions of a dairy farm. Then one horse from the team died. The other horse was calm until they removed the dead horse from the corral. The live horse went crazy-like and panicked. The newly purchased horse for the team was young and willful. It wanted to pull faster than its partner. Dad's mother or father would have to slow him down so the two would pull together in tandem while pulling the implement.
Metaphorically, God tethers us to the yoke and then we get to the business of learning how to live this spiritual life God's way. Once yoked spiritually as one together, we follow God and are unable to act independent of God without a responding action. When we pull ahead of God, He slows us down. When we fall or drag behind, God lifts us up and helps carry us along. God is in us, with us, and we are dependent on His presence.
God's yoke is a gift. It keeps us on track, and it helps us when we are weak or self-willed. Just watch a team of horses or cattle bound with a harness or yoke, and you will see that they must work together or they will be at odds, which means little will be accomplished and much will be confused.
Christ's followers desperately need His tempering and guidance. This is a kindness to us, not a burden that inhibits our progress. God is becoming our strength as we learn to depend on Him.
We are able then,
-to place our trust in Him
-with our daily stuff
-our scary stuff
-and even our good stuff.
And that's a good thing.
To God be the Glory
† † †
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