My Yoke is Easy, My Burden is Light

There is a yoke, a burden, to bear in being a Christian. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Relationship with Jesus is free from anything we need to do, but it costs us everything we are.

But sometimes we have such an entitlement mentality that the word “sacrifice” becomes a dirty word. God has blessed us with so much. But we get attached to His blessings and we forget Him. “What? Me give up anything? But it's my right!” And what we view as our right becomes our god. We make a big deal out of letting it go, when it should be easy.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:30, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” If we would only trust Him, take the risk, and yield ourselves to Him, we'd find He only takes away the stuff we didn't want anyway – like our insecurity, fear, and out-of-control emotions. And He gives back everything in us that's good – and it's whole not all twisted up like we had it.

It's easy to change when we're yielded to Jesus and not hanging on to what He wants to take. But it costs us facing our fear and risking that loss of control. But if we yield, we look back later and hit the easy button, “That was easy”. His yoke really is easy and His burden light. And. So. Worth. It.