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Volume 09, Issue 43: With Ease and Joy

If we are honest, life is a series of burdens. Each of us has different kinds. My pressing burdens have been my work responsibilities and I am the first to admit that it can get pretty overwhelming at times. I went through a particular YouVersion Bible plan last week on the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry provided by John Mark Comer that helped me push a reset button to surrender.

When the burdens weigh us down, we feel like throwing in the towel, giving it all up for an easier life. I was encouraged listening to one of the live speakers at the Global Leadership summit that I attended the other week. She is a young senior executive high up the ladder in the corporate industry who admitted what I haven't had anyone else in a senior position admit. That it's hard having big responsibilities, and that sometimes she just feels like leaving it all behind to go relax in her farm in the countryside. I completely relate. Often times I toy with the idea of replacing my job with something easier in my estimation like baking.

The burdens of our work responsibilities can be daunting, but there's a secret to copying that we need to be reminded of time and time again. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry study showed me what I already knew to be true but wasn't applying in my current situation. I desperately needed the reminder.

In the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry plan, John wrote that Jesus appealed to all the tired, weary and burned out and simply said, "Come, find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Jesus' open invite is to a life of rest and yet His imagery of an "easy yoke" is a bit odd. Far removed from an agrarian economy, we forget that a yoke is a tool for work; it was used to harness oxen together to plow a field. That sounds like the last thing a burned-out worker needs. The tired among us don't want a yoke, we want a vacation!

John continues, but Jesus is wise beyond comprehension. He gets it better than we often do, that life is an unending series of burdens. There’s no way around the weight of responsibility that is life this side of resurrection. What we need isn’t an escape from that weight, but a way to carry it with ease and joy. That’s what Jesus offers – a way to carry the weight of life with a straight back and smile on your face.

John reminds us that in the way of Jesus, Sabbath is a 24-hour practice of restful worship by which we cultivate a spirit of restfulness all week long. As we near the weekend, and look forward to a day of rest and worship, we need to remember that there are Sabbath moments all through each day - little opportunities to slow down and rest under Jesus' easy yoke.

There's no escape from the responsibilities of life. We can't throw in the towel and disappoint all those who look up to us as their role models. But we can carry the weight of our responsibilities with ease and joy by surrendering it to Jesus and asking for His help. We can move toward seeing the Sabbath as both a daily practice and a way of life.

 

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi