God Direction: Take up your cross and take my yoke.

What? That sounds like a lot of work and hardship. Does God really want us to be burdened and heavy laden? These two requests come from two separate parts of Matthew. Let's start with Matthew 10: 37-39:

“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.¹

Yes, Jesus never says follow me and it will be easy. We must put Him first above all, even our family. This will be tough, in fact He promises most of the time our own families will not understand to the extent that we will be persecuted. (Matthew 10:21-22) Taking up our cross means understanding that hardships are pare for the course and we should except that but we should also read Matthew 11: 28-30:

Here Jesus tells us that when we take up our cross we will be weary and burdened but if we come to Jesus He will give us rest. If we take up His yoke and learn from Him we will find rest for our souls. The yoke in the time of Jesus was made of wood and was worn by teams of animals. Jesus is saying that if we take His yoke He will share our burden making it easier. Most teams of animals have a leader who bares most of the load. While in animals this is not idea and trainers try to train them differently, for us this is to our advantage. Jesus has already bore our burdens on the cross. When we take up His yoke he carries our burdens for us.

The burdens that I am carrying at the moment are weighing me down. You could probably tell because I have slowed on writing the God Directions. My cross has brought me to my knees, which is right where God wants me. I am at that point in which I can no longer carry my cross so I have to take up the yoke of Jesus. I have to let go and let God have it. It's hard for me because I like having control and I tend to hold on way too long. But thank God that through His grace and mercy He allows things to get so bad that I have to trust in Him. This is why we must Take up our cross and take His yoke. The cross shows us our weakness and need of help and Jesus' yoke gives us the help we need. We should bare our cross with the trust and faith that we know that God will bare it for us.

Let's pray: Heavenly Father, forgive me for the times that I try to bare my cross on my own. Forgive me for the times that I become angry because of the cross that I have to bare. Help me to give it all to You. Give me the strength and courage to take up Your yoke and follow you. Mold us to Your will. In Christ's Name I pray, Amen.

¹The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) Grand Rapids: Zondervan.