Monday, July 04, 2022
One Sunday, directly after church, I had a person approach me and say, "Pastor, I believe what I'm doing for the church isn't what I'm supposed to be doing. It's not my calling!" I thought, "interesting." This intriguing comment leads us to our following Wonderfully Weird Command: Take My Yoke.
When a Christian shares, "I don't think what I'm doing is my calling," I know they struggle with this command. Taking Jesus's yoke is a Christian's calling, period. Every Christian must work with Jesus and others to grow God's kingdom, generally speaking, then work out their personal calling; it's never the other way around. This is the calling of all Christ-followers. If a person is confused with this meaning, they have a selfish and pride issue needing to repent to the obedience of God, rather than living in their own compliance or willfulness.
First, let's look at the metaphor of a "yoke." A yoke is practically a wooden cross piece fastened over the necks of two animals, one mature and the other slightly immature in comparison to the other, and attached to a plow or cart. A yoke allows two animals to share a load and pull it together. The animals yoked together must be close in size to pull the load fluently to accomplish the task at hand. Let's compare this "yoke" metaphor with the Christian walk.
People in Jesus' day readily understood analogies using a yoke. They knew what Jesus meant when He said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-30)." Souls imply two people working together with Jesus's teachings that lead the Way. Please understand when Jesus said, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light," it meant that the burden being shouldered in life was not heavy because Christ would be pulling the load with us. Simply understand, being "yoked together" means having a binding relationship with like-minded people with Jesus at the reigns. When this is not the case when a Christian pursues God, let's say with a non-Christian, it never works because they are always at odds with each other, no matter the relationship.
The call of the true Christian is to, like Adam and Eve in the Garden working with God (Genesis 2), cultivate the LORD's kingdom on this side of the fall. This means the Christ-follower's priority is never to first please or conform to their selfish calling but always to God's purpose and mission. The Christian is responsible for bracing with other true believers to stay in agreement with God. To do otherwise is to be unequally yoked. Today, I encourage all Christ-followers to get in the right relationships with others to carry the load together in the right direction of life. When we accept this reality of the "yoke," as Jesus said, life is light, and our calling is easy.
With Good Intent,