Hosanna Restoration Church

May I ask, “How does your yoke fit?” Perhaps that sounds like work and you are saved by grace. Just for the sake of honesty, I think it safe to say that we all forget the yoke far too often. In my bible, the yoke is defined as an instrument that unites animals for work. As Christians, we need to be aware that God created us for good works. There is a labor requirement. Of course it is not by good works that we are saved, but we do reveal what sort of faith we have by our works and actions.

I am no expert on yokes, but I do believe that they were intended to help the animals produce the most amount of word as efficiently as possible. No doubt they rubbed a bit, and if the animal attempted to go a wrong direction they were more uncomfortable. This was not as a means of punishing necessarily, but rather to help keep them in line. I am sure as they perfected their ability to make yokes they learned to custom-make them for each animal. Yokes could be for an individual animal, or used to unite them for a job.

Jesus tells us to take His yoke upon us because His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The truth is that we are yoked to something in this life. The yoke the world offers is neither easy nor light. Those other yokes take on many different forms. You see the devil is not very particular about what he yokes us to, as long as it keeps us out of the yoke of Christ. If you like to gossip or spread rumors, he will yoke you right up to all you can find. No matter what you find to follow that is outside the will of God, satan will happily strap on the yoke and take you down that path.

This is why the Lord said to take His yoke upon you. His yoke will become uncomfortable when you head the wrong direction, but as long as you abide in Him it will be so easy, and the burden will be so light. For instance, Jesus yokes us to love. It is a fact that it is much easier on us to love than it is to hate, just as it is much easier to be forgiving than it is to be bitter. Most importantly, He yokes us to each other and to Himself.

One might say that the yoke that Jesus offers is self-propelled. When we lock up with Jesus determined to go His way, He carries us along much like He carried the disciples along. All they had to do was pay attention to what He said and follow Him. He decided where they would go and what they would do. If they wandered off on their own, He would come and rescue them. Usually a miracle was involved that revealed even more of His love and power. They never really struggled as long as they stayed close to Jesus. After He left, they had lots of battles, but He was always faithful to help them, just as He is faithful to take care of us. It may be that as Christians we see the yoke as work and we don’t want to be harnessed to that. The truth is that failure to take on Jesus yoke is what makes it so difficult to stay on track. Remember, if we are not yoked to Him, we are yoked to something else that is neither easy nor light. TAKE THE YOKE!