His Yoke

This Scripture has been on my heart for days now:

“Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, ALL your soul, and ALL your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-38, NLT)

Years ago, I heard Beth Moore speak on this very portion and to this day I have never forgotten the message. She explained that the word “important” came from the Greek word – protos – which we derive our English word – priority. She went on to say that Jesus was saying – THIS needs to be the priority of your life – Love God.

We truly cannot love others until we love God – with ALL of our being. Every inch of our being. Our hearts. Our souls. Our minds. And to love God fully, we must KNOW Him.

Our lives will not change simply because we say we want to change. If you don’t believe me, think back on every New Year’s Resolution you ever made. How did that work for you? What was your success rate? Yeah. me too 🙂 Not very good.

We can only change as we spend time doing something repeatedly and continually which will effect change. Its why habits are hard to break. It is important to develop spiritual disciplines in our lives, so that His ways become ingrained on our hearts and minds.Â These disciplines then become the habits which will not be easily broken.

It is necessary to develop spiritual habits (aka “spiritual disciplines”) so weÂ begin to think like Jesus, respond like Jesus, and love like Jesus.

This is why Jesus invites us to –

“Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30, NLT)

The enemy would have us to think the yoke is restricting or limiting to us. In actuality, the yoke is freeing – it enables us to stay on our path, becoming a productive people.The yoke brings us to the point of fulfilling the “priorities” of our lives – loving God and loving our neighbors – with ALL our hearts, souls and minds.

“Only the man who follows the command of Jesus single-mindedly, and unresistingly lets his yoke rest upon him, finds his burden easy, and under its gentle pressure receives the power to persevere in the right way. The command of Jesus is hard, unutterably hard, for those who try to resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy, and the burden is light.”
”• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Let’s stay yoked with Him.

Today I am joining … Thought Provoking Thursday and Grace Moments .