The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Easy Yoke. The Light Burden."
Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ provides the gift of His Lordship as the governing influence of our lives. God made us to be directed by someone other than ourselves, and gives the Lord Jesus as the most sublime Master to all who believe.
"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).
Our Lord's easy yoke and light burden speaks of the truth that His enabling comes with His governance. In Christ, obedience is ever and forever fruit, the fruit of His vital and living presence. The Apostle Paul referenced such grace in his epistle to the Philippians:
"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13).
Believers work out that which God works in. The commands of the New Testament are not written merely to ourselves, but to ourselves as inhabited and empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit. In the light of such blessed promise, Christ's Lordship becomes a delight and a gift no less than forgiveness, provision, protection, and the prospect of everlasting life. Of course, His will challenges our flesh, wherein "dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18). Our spirits, however, "delight in the law of God" because the Lord God Himself lives within us to supply motivation, guidance, and enabling (Romans 7:22).
The martyrs of the church serve as the greatest witnesses to the truth of the easy yoke and light burden. All would tell us that amid the pain and loss of life, devotion to the Lordship of Christ that led to their sacrifice blessed their hearts with immeasurable joy and peace. They would all do it over again because in the hour of their sacrifice, the Lord Jesus revealed Himself and His enabling to make possible their obedience unto death. The same truth applies to all faithfulness to God. As we grow in the understanding and awareness of Christ's Lordship, devotion to God's will becomes realized as a sublime gift of grace. "I delight to do Thy will, O My God, yea, Thy law is within my heart" declares the Lord Jesus regarding obedience to His Father (Psalm 40:8). The believer affirms the same because the same Lord Jesus dwells within us as the Life of our lives, constituting obedience not as burden, but as blessing.
We do not have to obey God. We get to. Our Father will allow us to walk after the flesh if we choose to do so. However, the more we realize the privilege of obedience made possible by our perfect Master so devoted to our well being, the more we will seek to obey, regardless of the sacrifice. We serve a Lord who loves us more dearly than we can imagine, and who guides us with perfect knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. The easy yoke. The light burden. We were made and born again for such a gift, such a privilege, such a grace, and such a joy of devotion to our wondrous Master.
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."
(Hebrews 13:20-21)
Weekly Memory Verse
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
(I Corinthians 13:12)
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