Salvation and being born-again opens the door to the rest of God. When we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, our spirit man comes alive, and we come to a place of rest in God. However, as we begin to walk with God, the circumstances of life can push us to lose our peace and rest. The good news is that Jesus provided a solution for maintaining our peace and rest in life. He told us that we can be yoked with Him.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
In the above passage, Jesus invited those who labored and were heavy-laden to follow Him, and He promised them rest. This promise was based on the condition of taking His yoke upon us and learning from His gentleness and humility. Without humility and gentleness, we cannot truly experience the rest and the peace of God in our souls. Humility allows us not to depend on our natural strength to make things happen. We learn to live a surrendered life and not try to figure things out in our own understanding. Gentleness allows us to relate rightly to others hence avoiding strife and quarrels. The absence of strife makes room for the rest and the peace of God in our relationships.
Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42
Martha complained about her sister Mary for not helping her, but Jesus told her that she was worried about many things and that Mary had chosen the good part. Martha wasn’t doing anything evil or sinful, but her being busy in the kitchen wasn’t the priority at the moment. Consequently, she was stressed about her own expectations, and she wasn’t at peace with her sister because of her self-imposed standard of hospitality.
Those who are action-oriented are ready to do something for God and show that they love Him. However, sometimes the work is tied to just resting in God. For action-oriented people resting is hard. Our self-imposed work can make us lose our rest. Trusting God and not jumping into action in the name of loving God is an important work of faith.
Furthermore, when we try to carry the load of the world and intend on solving problems that don’t belong to us, we lose our peace and rest. That is not God’s work for us. Understanding our sphere of responsibility will help us not to take on burdens that belong to others. We cannot rescue those who don’t desire to be rescued. We cannot make people take their relationship with the Lord more seriously. We cannot pressure people to desire change. In all those cases, we can only set a good example, pray, and be available if/when advice is sought.
Many of us desire a stronger walk and more Godly choices for our family and friends. However, it is not God’s heart nor His work for us to become anxious, stressed, or controlling in trying to make it happen. That is not accomplishing God’s work on the earth; it is only a carnal attempt to make ourselves feel better.
The Lord does not place the burden of other people’s choices on us. The scripture does not tell us to take on those kinds of burdens on ourselves. We are only responsible for those we have the role of guardianship and are under our authority. If the son of God did not make people follow Him or obey His commands, then we need to learn from His gentleness and humility and not impose our will on others. God always gave people a choice and made it clear that their choices will have blessings or consequences.
When we take on the yoke of Jesus, we still have work to do, but this work will get done with the rest of God. In rest we see clearly, and we know our part. When we choose to be yoked to Jesus, we accept people’s free choice and, as a result, we are freed from worrying about things that we cannot control.
Are you burdened and heave-laden with issues that you are not in your control to change? It is a good time to surrender it to the Lord. Stress and worry are dead works that do not produce any good fruit. Instead, why not trust God and release your burdens to Him!?