Bible League: Living His Word Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."Jesus' message of compassion and hope was spoken to a generation of people who had been bowed down with legalistic burdens by the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus said that they "tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger" (Matthew 23:4). Although Jesus' message was spoken to the people of His day, it speaks to any generation of people who struggle with the burden and guilt associated with legalistic teachings. Legalism and humanism are two sides of the same coin. Legalism is the view that salvation must in some way include strict observance of a particular set of moral standards. It goes hand in hand with humanism, because the legalist assumes that human beings have the capability within themselves, if they want to, to observe the standards and thereby ensure salvation. Although those who uphold legalistic and humanistic views do not usually express them in such bald-faced terms as is done here, the message gets across nonetheless. And it is burdensome to people and hard to bear. Jesus invites those who are listening to take His yoke upon them. "Yoke" in this context should be understood as a metaphor for the "way to salvation." Jesus' invitation is for His hearers to put off the yoke of the scribes and Pharisees and take up His yoke. The scribes and Pharisees laid heavy yokes on people and did nothing to lighten the load. Jesus asks people to take up His yoke and His yoke is easy. His yoke is easy to carry, of course, because it does not consist of strict obedience to a complex system of moral standards, but faith in Him as the fulfillment of every moral standard. If you are struggling today with the burden and guilt of a legalistic yoke of teaching, then consider exchanging it for Jesus' yoke---for His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingNumbers 7 Numbers 7 -- Offerings at the Tabernacle Dedication NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Mark 4:21-41 Mark 4 -- Parables of the Sower, Lamp on a Stand, Seed Growing Secretly, Mustard Seed; Jesus Calms the Sea NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.Remind me that my days are numbered— how fleeting my life is. Insight Life is short no matter how long we live. If there is something important we want to do, we must not put it off for a better day. Challenge Ask yourself, “If I had only six months to live, what would I do?” Tell someone that you love him or her? Deal with an undisciplined area in your life? Tell someone about Jesus? Because life is short, don't neglect what is truly important. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Genesis 49:24 His bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.That strength which God gives to his Josephs is real strength; it is not a boasted valour, a fiction, a thing of which men talk, but which ends in smoke; it is true--divine strength. Why does Joseph stand against temptation? Because God gives him aid. There is nought that we can do without the power of God. All true strength comes from "the mighty God of Jacob." Notice in what a blessedly familiar way God gives this strength to Joseph--"The arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." Thus God is represented as putting his hands on Joseph's hands, placing his arms on Joseph's arms. Like as a father teaches his children, so the Lord teaches them that fear him. He puts his arms upon them. Marvellous condescension! God Almighty, Eternal, Omnipotent, stoops from his throne and lays his hand upon the child's hand, stretching his arm upon the arm of Joseph, that he may be made strong! This strength was also covenant strength, for it is ascribed to "the mighty God of Jacob." Now, wherever you read of the God of Jacob in the Bible, you should remember the covenant with Jacob. Christians love to think of God's covenant. All the power, all the grace, all the blessings, all the mercies, all the comforts, all the things we have, flow to us from the well-head, through the covenant. If there were no covenant, then we should fail indeed; for all grace proceeds from it, as light and heat from the sun. No angels ascend or descend, save upon that ladder which Jacob saw, at the top of which stood a covenant God. Christian, it may be that the archers have sorely grieved you, and shot at you, and wounded you, but still your bow abides in strength; be sure, then, to ascribe all the glory to Jacob's God. Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 25:12 Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.Matthew 6:22 "The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. Isaiah 30:21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left. Psalm 32:8-11 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. • Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, Otherwise they will not come near to you. • Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him. • Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart. Jeremiah 10:23 I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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