Who is actually carrying that now?

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)

How many times do we carry burdens way too heavy and beyond our means of ever 'unloading' on our own? Examine what Jesus said - come, take, learn, and find rest. There is an 'unloading' that occurs when we come to Jesus with those things we are carrying, but first we have to come! To take we must lay down. If we are to put more 'in', we must let 'out' what is nothing more than a 'burden' we carry. A burden is anything that is borne with difficulty - there is a sense of obligation to hold onto it, nurse it along, and keep it 'well situated' in a position where it can be 'managed'. What are we 'bearing' with difficulty today? Is it really our 'burden' to carry? Should we continue to 'manage' it, barely inching along under its weight? If we ever want to be free from it, we better stop nursing it along!

In accounting terms, a burden is anything that is considered to be 'overhead' - in other words, it is 'over our heads' all the time unless we 'pay it off' entirely. For most of us, the burdens we carry today are nothing we can 'pay off' on our own. They are emotional and spiritual - things we cannot change without the help of another. We might want to be free, but we cannot figure out a way to 'unburden' the load without another's help. The truth is likely that the burden we carry today is never going to be 'gone' entirely without God's helps to 'unload' what we have packed away so carefully and tightly into the spaces of our mind and heart. It remains 'overhead' in our lives, with us constantly trying to find some means of 'paying some debt off' so we can finally be free of the 'overhead'.

To be free, we take. Seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it? A yoke means we pull together - no longer attempting to bear the burden alone. We let go of our independent struggle and bind our lives together with Christ, allowing him to shoulder the burden right there alongside of us. One day, when we least expect it, we come to discover he wears the 'lead' yoke - we no longer carry that burden - he does. Rest comes over our weary emotions, settling deep within our overworked minds. The more we let him lead, the lighter the burden becomes, until one day, we no longer feel the weight of that burden any longer. Perhaps the greatest way to 'unburden' is to 'yoke up' with Christ. Just sayin!

I am not "yoking" around!

Weary?  Burdened?  Then you are likely in a place where you have stepped outside of Jesus' care over your lives and are trying to do things in your own strength.  Weary and burdened existence is usually because we find it so doggone hard to let anyone else be in control of our lives - demanding to hold on for dear life despite the obstacles in our path. Most work animals, such as the oxen or horses, will not look upon a yoke as a great piece of "jewelry" or even an "adornment". In fact, when they see the yoke there are some animals who might just say, "Nope, not gonna happen!"  Honesty is the best medicine here, so I must admit, there are times when I have said those words!  Yet, when I finally submit to the yoke, I find I am taken in a totally different direction than I had planned.  What the yoke does is bind me together with others traveling in the same direction I am now bound, and it allows someone who knows the directions to my destination to drive my life!

The Father has handed over everything to My care. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son—and those to whom the Son wishes to reveal the Father. Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Put My yoke upon your shoulders—it might appear heavy at first, but it is perfectly fitted to your curves. Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. When you are yoked to Me, your weary souls will find rest. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:27-30 VOICE)

One thing I learned about "yoking" animals together is quite illustrative of why I think Jesus used this word picture.  You see, when two animals are yoked together, they pull together. When one grows a little weary, the other takes over the "lead" for a little while.  It is a shared burden.  There is much to be said about not going through life "pulling your own weight" all the time.  In fact, when we finally "yoke up" with the right individuals in life, we find the burden of "pulling" becomes one we not only share, but we actually get through with more grace, ease, and enjoyment.

Did you know there are different types of yokes?  I always pictured either that bar of wood which kind of binds the two animals together just over their neck region, or that oblong piece of leather and wood which fits over their heads and connects to the reins.  Here are some interesting tidbits about the various types of yokes:

- The neck or bow yoke is a wooden cross-piece across the shoulders of the animals with an "oxbow" made of metal which encircles the neck of the animals individually.  As one animal moves forward, pressure is applied to the shoulders of the other.  The pressure is born upon their shoulders, with the load being drug by a beam which extends from the middle of the wooden cross-piece.  The weight is distributed and the pressure is not hard to bear because they are both bearing it together.  Ever find your shoulders just a little tense?  I often realize I am carrying "weight" in ways which makes me tense - I wonder if it is because I am trying to carry that weight myself instead of having it "evenly distributed" so it can be born with ease.

- The head yoke may not be most familiar to many of us, but it is a bar of wood which fits behind and over the horns of the oxen.  It exerts a great deal of pressure on the forehead, so it needs some padding.  In the most literal sense, these animals are using their "heads" to do the work of the day.  I know many of us go about our days trying to figure out how to make things "work" in our lives, musing over things until our heads hurt!  Maybe what we need is to be fit with a yoke which helps us think things through together instead of all on our own!

- The collar harness is a type of "yoke" used in modern wagon gear. It is placed over the head of the horse, moved down just to about the withers and then it is hooked up to all manner of straps and eventually to the wagon's "tongue".  There is a neck yoke bar which is at the end of the "tongue" which connects to the collar.  As the animal is placed into the gear, the weight is again born by what some might think of as the shoulders, just over the top of the horse's front legs.  The placement of the collar harness allows the yoke to be attached, again securing the two animals (and sometimes even more) to bear the burden together.

Yokes aren't meant to hold us captive, but to help us bear burdens and weight beyond our ability in ways we could not do alone.  They are not hard to wear, but they take some getting used to.  If we want to get through life with the best chance of not bearing all the load of life on our own, we might do well to embrace the yoke of God's love and care over our lives instead of stubbornly trying to pull it all on our own! Just sayin!

Principle 19: Don't Get Caught Up

There are times in life when it just seems like bad people seem to being doing so much better than the good people in this world.  It seems like evil just runs rampant and we cannot seem to regain the ground we have lost.  In those moments when we begin to ponder how easily things seem to be going for those bent on doing wrong, we almost wonder why things can't be that easy for us, getting ourselves all worked up into this frenzy we call envy.  It is amazing what we can get worked up over - stuff we probably don't want to be involved in anyway, but because we see some advantage to the other guy, we get ourselves all in a twitter about the issue.  Evil people cannot help us stay on the right path - in fact, they can even get us off it without even trying very hard simply because our tendency is to follow what moves our feelings rather than what keeps our spirit on the up and up.  To get caught up in the talk and the ruckus of their madness is to end up in a truly danger place. 

Don’t envy bad people; don’t even want to be around them.  All they think about is causing a disturbance; all they talk about is making trouble. (Proverbs 24:1-2 MSG)

As we consider today's principle, let's keep in mind what Solomon is attempting to get across to each of us as he pens these principles - it is the "soundness" of a safe foundation for our lives which will keep us on the up and up.  When he tells us not to envy bad people or even desire to be around them, it is because he doesn't want us to become corrupted by their way of thinking, acting, speaking, etc.  They are "pot stirrers" and as such, they delight in getting people "stirred up", but not for the right reasons.  It is good to get our "juices flowing" once in a while over some issues, especially if there is evidence of being off-track and needing to get things corrected.  When we are just getting caught up in the manipulative plotting of those bent on making life a little more complicated, we might just do well to turn away and run as fast as we can.

The type of people we are warned against are those whose hearts plot evil - they have an end in mind which only furthers their intentions.  One of the clues we are given as to how to be sure we are not falling into the traps of the evil around us is to evaluate their words.  All their talk appears to gravitate toward the culmination of their plotted evil.  Now, we all know how deceptive words can be, so we cannot simply take words at face value, but they can be one of the indicators which give us a sense of warning that this is not the crowd we want to be keeping company with.  Why is it so important to not hang with this crowd?  It is because of the "herd effect" of this type of negativity and wayward bent.  You see, we get "caught up" in the way they are moving simply because they have a way of almost "stampeding" those around them.  They take off running and those who don't realize the misdirection of their path can easily be caught up in the "running" and just follow suit.

Really, this passage deals with two things - knowing the hearts of those we companion with and not being swayed by the words which play on our emotions and get us into movement without really thinking through what it is we are moving toward.  We have to be certain as to the heart intentions of those we companion with - there is this principle taught in scripture of being "equally yoked".  To be equally yoked, two oxen were placed side by side in the yoke.  Together they plowed the field.  If one was too strong, or given to being too lazy, that one would constantly be pulling against the other and the fields would not get plowed.  The farmer would work way too hard just controlling the animals to get the plowing done!  When we "partner" with another in relationship, we often find ourselves "working" in some direction. If there is too much stubbornness on one's part, or perhaps a propensity to allow another to do the work, one of us will become disillusioned with the other and begin to regret the choices we have made.  So, evaluating who it is we "step into the yoke" with will save us a lot of regret down the road.  Just sayin!

Equally yoked

²⁰ Walk with the wise and become wise,
   for a companion of fools suffers harm.

(Proverbs 13:20)

There is much to be said about the wisdom we exhibit in the company we keep.  Companions are often the first line of defense against stumbling when we are not paying attention to our journey - they can also be the first line of affording the opportunity to stumble!  Mom always used to tell me to choose my friends wisely.  At the time, I really never knew the purpose of that statement - but looking back at some of the choices I've made, I see the wisdom in her words.  

Our passage today reveals two truths:

• Those we associate with influence us - good or bad, they influence us.  There is much that brings influence into our lives, but there are times when we turn to the influence of a trusted friend, a faithful companion, quicker than we turn to anything or anyone else.  Therefore, choosing who we allow into our lives determines the influence we allow.  Influence is simply the effect of one person on another.  If you examine the meaning of this word further, you will find that there is a definition that describes the power to "sway" the other in one direction or another.  Effect can be good or bad; sway can be toward the best, or toward the worst.  Influence, then, is a key factor in the choice of traveling companions we align with in our lives.
• There is an advantage to being yoked with someone going the same direction - there is nothing as effective as the words, comfort, intentions, and insight of another who is walking the same path as you are.  In the days when we relied upon a team of oxen to pull a cart, the farmers always paired the oxen so that there was not one stubborn one constantly pulling against the work of the other.  He wanted them to pull together, because the strength to work to their capacity was realized in being "equally yoked".  If one pulled against the other, their strength was diminished and their work was ineffective.  The effectiveness of our walk is directly impacted by those we "yoke" with in the day-to-day work of life.

Our passage reminds us that when we walk with the wise (equally yoked), we become wise.  This can be a simple as aligning yourself with someone who has more experience doing what it is that you want to accomplish - like someone who has already invested well assisting you in learning how to invest your finances for your future.  Yet, we sometimes are too afraid, or unwilling, to align with those who will afford us the opportunity to grow where we most need to grow.  We are like the oxen too stubborn to be "yoked" with another who might steer our course correctly.

Sometimes it is good to take inventory of who we are surrounded by in our lives.  If we find we are always gravitating toward others with exactly the same experiences, at the same level of spiritual maturity, etc., we seldom are challenged to grow.  If we wisely choose one or two that have differing experiences, who are growing in areas where we most need to grow, there is wisdom in that choice!  We need each other - not so that we won't be lonely along this journey - but because we need to grow in the journey.  Yep, we need to become wise, but the first step to "becoming" wise is to make the "right" choice in our companions!

Who is your traveling companion through life in this season of your life?  Today's companion may differ from those of years gone by, and there will likely be others as you journey on.  Take inventory of those traveling with you today.  Are they challenging you where you need challenge?  Are they enabling you in ways that bring growth, or are they pulling you down?  If they are not enabling your growth, it may be the greatest sign of wisdom to choose another who will!