28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matt.11:28-30I'm going to make a statement that may strike many of you as odd, and maybe even offend some, but nonetheless it is true and it is the WORD of GOD.
Living saved is not as hard as we make it out to be.
As a matter of fact, living saved is easier than living unsaved.
GASP! Did he really say that? How dare he!!!!
Well, it's the WORD. What does JESUS say in our scripture text? Paraphrasing through revelation, JESUS says here that you've spent your life up until this encounter with ME going through all of this stuff that is providing you nothing in exchange or in return, and you're tired from all of the overworking you're doing trying to grab the reigns of your life and do it all on your own. Come unto ME, and I will give you rest. MY yoke, what I require, is easy and I'll take your hard yoke in exchange for MINE and give you a burden lighter than the one you have right now.
Isn't that something? There's a couple of things that this scripture gives us to know. First off, saved or not, I'm yoked to something. If I'm saved I'm supposed to be yoked to JESUS, so I go where HE goes and I do what HE does, because the yoke dictates the direction. If I'm not yoked to JESUS, I've got to be yoked to something else that is leading me away from HIM. People walk around daily yoked to fornication, yoked to homosexuality, yoked to depression, yoked to addictions, yoked to low self esteem; all leading a person from JESUS rather than to HIM. We also learn that learning from the LORD causes our restless souls to find what has alluded us for so long: rest. The Bible gives us to know that there is no rest, or peace, for the wicked(Isa.48:22). Individuals go through so much looking for peace, and don't realize that it can be as simple as surrendering their lives to the LORD.
Now, let's make some things plain about that major statement we made at the onset of this message. We're going to prove that statement with just a few examples. The world tells you that in order to be accepted and belong, even if it's to a specific group, you have to come a certain way and bring certain things to the table, which often times finds us either falling away into other social groups because we don't possess what's required or we work ourselves into a frenzy trying to get what's required.
Salvation says comes as you are; you belonged even before you wanted to. See how simple that is? Another example. The world tells you that love, just like social status, comes with strings attached and is not simply based on who you are, but what you have. Salvation says I love you because you exist; no strings attached. In the world, you go through because hey, that's life. In salvation, you go through with purpose and always get blessed on the other side when you go through the right way. While living unsaved is unrewarding and only leads to death, living saved is full of reward and leads to really living in this life and eternally in the next in HIS presence.
So why make the statement that we did? Some folks in salvation are struggling more than they have to. Why? Because trying to live saved on your terms limits your access to the unlimited resource that GOD is, thereby causing newness of life to be harder than it should be. Think about it: so many in salvation are dissatisfied because they're looking for the WORD to yield results that they have not put themselves in position to receive. If I'm in need of direction, but I don't acknowledge HIM in all my ways(Pro.3:6), then why should I get frustrated when I don't know which way to go? If I've got stuff going on and my situations and circumstances, the fruit of sin and the power of the enemy that comes against me, but I don't use the power that GOD has given me to conquer this stuff(Luke 10:19), then why do I get mad at GOD when things don't work out in my favor or when I deal with things longer than I have to? When I'm not operating according to GOD's purpose for my life and my love for HIM is lacking, then why should I get frustrated when the things I'm dealing with don't work out for my good(Rom.8:28)?
See, prior to salvation we had a heavy yoke that said, "Here, figure all this stuff out on your own". Now saved, we should be able to experience the peace, the rest, the joy, the comfort, the solace in knowing that GOD has everything we need and that we can go to HIM to get it. There's no jumping through hoops with GOD. There's no hurting ourselves to gain the more of HIM. There's no degrading of ourselves to be approved of HIM. But we stumble at the benefits of relationship with GOD because rather than being transformed through the renewing of our minds, we still conform to the ways of the world(Rom.12:2). I struggle in my walk with HIM because I won't let go. Pride will not allow me to recognize exactly how bad who I used to be was hurting me, and now it's preventing who I'm supposed to be and who I've been purposed to become. What you're refusing to give GOD is causing you to exhaust the same energy and gain the same lackluster results you did when you weren't saved.
Let your old things die and be the new creature CHRIST died to enabled you to become(II Cor.5:17). Would you rather be uncomfortably comfortable for the sake of believing that you still know you best and know what's best for you, or would you rather be comfortably uncomfortable knowing that you are changing for the better within the will of GOD?
After all we do to JESUS and after all HE's done for us already, HE's still offering to trade us the weight of the world, much too heavy, for the weight of HIS love. Salvation is the easier way. Help GOD help you. I pray GOD's anointing upon you to visit you and consume you right now in the name of JESUS to destroy every yoke that is not yoked to HIM. Be free in freedom in JESUS' name.
Indeed, it is the easier yoke.
GOD bless...
KD
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