Yoke yourself to Jesus

Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

Over the course of time, we see less and less emphasis on being equally yoked in relationships. In the most literal sense, God is reminding us that the direction, purpose, and even the vision we have within our lives are different - some might say that the two 'belief systems' are even at odds. A believer is governed or directed by the righteousness of God that indwells them, while the unbeliever is still enslaved to a life of sin, making choices based on that sin nature. When we enter into relationship with one another, we end up giving advice to each other, helping the other one 'sort out' some of life's challenges, and even take the first steps in some decisions. When we are unequally yoked, we could find ourselves making choices that God never wanted us to make!

I guess the hardest thing for us to understand today is that no man can serve two masters. One of those masters will ultimately 'win out'. Christ may be pulling us one direction, but it is possible that the thoughts and desires of the unbeliever we yoke ourselves with is attempting to pull us in the opposite direction. Does that mean we should not associate with unbelievers? Absolutely not! It does mean that we are to consider very carefully every aspect of the relationship we have with them and then make wise choices as to 'entering into' a deeper relationship with them. While we may think of being 'yoked together' as referencing marriage, it goes much deeper. In ANY relationship where a believer is being asked to compromise what they know to be true or wise is one that we need to be very cautious about.

While we dwell in a sinful world, we are constantly bombarded with choices that are contrary to the ones God would have us make. We have to be aware of who is influencing our lives. The influence isn't always 'out there' as much as it might be subtle, gradually occurring over time. We need God's Spirit to help us differentiate between the influence of this world's passions and desires, and those that God plants within our hearts when we grow in relationship with him. When the relationship we have with him is first and foremost, we find ourselves better able to detect when an influence we are being asked to follow is incorrect for our lives. Grow strong in Jesus - yoke yourself to him. Then you will be better able to differentiate between the choice that will lead us into godliness or the one that will take us into compromise. Just sayin!

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!