Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Take His Yoke Upon You (Letting Christ Carry the Load)

Matthew 11:28-30
"Come unto me, all ye that labour 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."

During David A. Bednar's talk during the Sunday morning session of General Conference he mentioned this scripture in his talk. I know I've blogged before about my impressions about this scripture before, but this time I had a couple of new insights.

First of all, taking the Lord's yoke upon us still requires us to agree to be yoked and to share the burden with Him. This is not something He forces on us. It's also not something that happens automatically. It is voluntary, but necessary if we want the promised blessing. 

It also struck me that it's far preferable to share a yoke with the Lord than with anyone or anything else. Often in our lives we lean on family, friends, or others for strength and help, and that's okay. We need people in our lives to help us, support us, and teach us. But when we rely too heavily on mortals we end up carrying a greater portion of our burden than is necessary because they don't have the strength or power to carry our burden for us long-term. Sharing a yoke with the Savior enables us to labor under our burden longer, farther, and with more ease than we ever could by ourselves (or even with help from others) because He is lifting the load just high enough that the full weight doesn't settle on our shoulders and weigh us down. 

We struggle under the weight of our own yokes and burdens but the Savior wants to give us rest. He has unlimited power to lift and carry any and all of the burdens we struggle under in this life. When we trade our yoke for His, He takes the burden of ours and replaces it with the the weight of His yoke, and His yoke is easy because He carries the majority of the load. 

As we labor and are heavy laden it feels as though the cares of the world, our own struggles, fears, unhappiness, and negativity weigh us down and create fatigue and weariness. This life is not easy and sometimes it's a struggle to keep putting one foot in front of the other! However, when we turn to the Lord we are given the promise that we will find rest. His yoke is easy and His burden is light- and ours can be too if we just submit ourselves to the only one who is willing and able to gently place His yoke upon our shoulders, and then lifts with enough strength to make it bearable for us. 

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