Years ago I attended a ‘church’ building that often stressed
the crown ‘Christians’ would receive upon entrance to heaven. Talk among the
leaders of the ‘church’ and in sermons regularly spoke of how each deed a
‘christian’ does for someone earns him another jewel in that crown.
That earning or entitlement mindset is a thought process…an
entire religion…of its own. How easy it is for people to want to follow a
‘Jesus’ that rewards them for every little deed.
When my children were toddlers I had what I called a
treasure bucket that I kept on top of the refrigerator. In it I kept small
trinkets…bouncy balls, pencils, stickers…even change. When my toddlers would do
something particularly helpful or nice for someone I would allow them to pick
something out of the prize bucket. It was a very simple reward method that
required little effort on my part but brought them great joy. They would often
do something just to try and earn something from the prize bucket.
The ‘crowns’ and ‘jewels’ taught at the ‘church’ building I
attended so many years ago reminds me of that very prize bucket. I have heard
those in that ‘church’ speak of how holding a door open for someone ‘earns’
another jewel in your crown.
That method of ‘christianity’…that method of teaching what
‘christians’ should be…reminds me of my toddlers that were so eager to help
carry groceries or clean off the kitchen table. They wanted the prize…thought
only of the prize…and were working to gain the prize. That was their sole
purpose for doing what they did.
In that ‘church’ I heard many a conversation that centered
on the ‘jewels’ ‘christians’ would have in their crowns in heaven. And why
not…that was what the leaders were teaching them. It was the goal for their
place in heaven. That very same ‘church’ taught that there would be slaves and
rulers in heaven. I can’t count the number of times I heard those in leadership
positions within that ‘church’ say that they didn’t want to be a slave when
they got to heaven.
What the so-called leaders in the ‘church’ building were
teaching was wrong. Their whole purpose…whole belief…was based off what they
could get. What they did on earth was done for the purpose of earning something
in heaven. There are many that try and work their way into salvation…known as
works righteousness systems. Wrong as those beliefs are, at least they are
trying to attain salvation. This ‘church’ and those it ‘led’ weren’t trying to
attain salvation…that was attained through the two minute prayer they said…what
the members and leaders of this ‘church’ were working for were ‘treasures’ in
heaven. They had…in their minds…secured their place in heaven and they not only
wanted a high position when they got there but they wanted many jewels too.
Salvation…in their minds…was easy. It was as simple as
saying a prayer…telling ‘Jesus’ that they wanted Him to live in their
hearts…and their eternal life was secure. They need do nothing else. From that
point on they were free to work their way into a high position in heaven and as
many jewels as they could.
That belief is in opposition to what Scripture teaches…
"Come to Me, all
who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest
for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew
11:28-30
My first thoughts when I look to that verse in light of what
those in that ‘church’ believed…thanks to what their ‘leaders’ were
teaching…is: for I am gentle and humble
in heart. If a ‘Christian’ is working for the purpose of a higher position
in heaven and more ‘jewels’ in their ‘crown’…are they being humble in heart?
I think, too, of how that verse is mixed up and mangled by
the same kind of ‘Christians’ that find themselves taking Scripture and making
it into something that looks nothing like the black and white Truth that rests
between the covers of the Bible.
This past winter I saw a news headline…I didn’t read the
article…about how a popular Hollywood persona was rewriting…or having
rewritten…the Bible. According to the headline God was being replaced with that
person’s name.
I can’t think of any worse twisting of Scripture than to
remove the Lord from the Bible and place anything…or anyone…in His place. But
that, at least, is an obvious mutilation of Scripture. Who could sit down with
a ‘Bible’ and read…in the beginning ___________ created…and not know they were
reading a perversion of the Bible? Even those that don’t believe in the Lord
knows God is supposed to be in the Bible.
But how many ‘leaders’ of ‘Christians’ mangle and pervert
Scripture just as much as that Hollywood persona supposedly did?
How much was the Truth of Scripture
perverted…twisted…mangled…to create the mindset that the ‘leaders’ of that
‘church’ I attended taught to those they were supposedly to be teaching Truth
to? How much mangling had to go on to tell those poor people that their purpose
as a ‘Christian’ was to gain more jewels in their crown?
I need look no further in Scripture than the verse above to
see that Scripture is twisted and mangled in the majority of ‘church’ buildings
today.
"Come to Me, all
who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest
for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew
11:28-30
I would guess that the majority of professing ‘christians’
would recognize the beginning of that verse.
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Not
only would they recognize it but most of them would be all too happy to take it
to heart and apply it to their lives.
They are more than happy to run to Christ and receive rest.
They’ll gladly give up their heavy, wearying burdens and accept the rest he
offers. But that’s as far as most of them go. They stop after that. They need
know nothing beyond the fact that ‘Jesus’ offers to give them rest from their
burdens. It’s a rest they gladly claim…much the way those in that ‘church’ I
attended were more than happy to claim the ‘jewels’ that were ‘owed’ to them
because they did something good.
They are happy to pick from the prize bucket…happy to accept
the invitation and the offer that’s been placed before them. All they must do
is…come to me…and they will be given
the prize…rest. But they fail to
notice that there’s a condition to that prize. It isn’t offered freely. It’s
not sitting there waiting for anyone and everyone that wishes to stick their
hand in the prize bucket and come up with the trinket they desire.
There is a requirement to that prize.
The ‘Christians’ that run to eagerly accept the ‘free gift’
of rest that is offered fail to realize that there is a price attached to that
gift. It isn’t a get out of jail free card. It isn’t a prize to be gained for
nothing more than verbally…superficially…acknowledging Christ.
There is a deep and profound price tag attached to the gift
of rest that is offered. It is a price tag that most never realize is there.
And so they try the ‘gift’ on. They examine it in the mirror. They parade it
before their friends….offer the same ‘gift’ to anyone that will take notice.
And they never understand that it is a gift they do not have.
The ‘gift’ they so eagerly accepted is but an illusion
because they failed to pay the price that was attached to it.
When they grabbed onto the gift…they ignored the price tag.
They eagerly read and applied…"Come
to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. But they never noticed, or took to heart…Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me.
There…in Scripture…is the gift…
Come to Me…and I will
give you rest.
And that is where they stop. They grab onto come to me and
they eagerly accept I will give you rest. There is no need to read or apply
anything beyond that. Why would there be? So many ‘leaders’ of ‘churches’ today
have handed out sermon after sermon of that very same gift. No matter the words
used, no matter the Scripture verses used, the message is the same. If you come to Christ…if you choose ‘Jesus’…He
will give you rest…you will gain salvation for eternity because you have ‘made
a decision for Christ.’
It’s easy. There’s nothing to it. That’s all there is. Your
life need never change. All you have to do is ‘come to Jesus and you will
secure your salvation.’ And like sheep being led to slaughter, ‘Christian’
after ‘Christian’ fall for this easy-believism ‘Christianity’ that gives them
‘eternal security’ without ever knowing there is so much more to being a
Christian.
So those ‘Christians’ take the gift…but they don’t notice
the price tag…
Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me.
And in not noticing the price tag…they fail to pay for the
gift they think they have. They have grabbed onto an illusion that gained them
nothing. They believe they own the gift…the rest…that was offered, but the
reality is that the gift came with conditions. It came with certain
requirements. It came with expectations. And it’s impossible to have the gift
without paying the price to get it.
Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me.
What they never realized that while they were invited to
‘come to Christ’ the price of doing so was to be ruled by him. Paul put it so
well when he said he was a slave of Christ. Those that eagerly grab onto the
rest offered through Christ neglect the fact that to gain that rest they must
be ruled by Him.
I have a relative that told my daughter that I ‘make being a
Christian harder than it has to be’. This relative can’t see the reason for
giving up so many of the…sinful…’pleasures’ of this world. They think that
because I don’t partake of things like Halloween and movies that I make
‘Christianity’ harder than it has to be. But the reality is that I didn’t
choose to give up those things. The Lord took them from me. he created in me a
hurt everytime I encountered those things…and many others. I didn’t make things
harder by living for Christ. I made it easier. But it’s only easier when you
understand that you must pay the price to gain the gift.
And even at that…it wasn’t a gift I chose. I didn’t ask for
this kind of faith, for this kind of belief. I didn’t choose it. And I don’t
make things harder. I obey my Lord and the hurt He places in me when I
encounter sin is removed from my heart. And so the hardness of being a
Christian…what my relative see’s as me making things hard…isn’t me doing
anything but the Lord controlling my life.
As a result of the Lords control, and my obedience to that
control, my life has become easier, not harder.
I have entered into a rest that only Christ can give.
That rest isn’t a physical rest but a Spiritual one. It is
the rest from sin. The rest from being a slave to the world and the sinful
nature of the world. It’s the rest of salvation.
Take My yoke upon you…
I took that yoke upon me…but I didn’t chose that yoke. I
received it because the Lord chose me to carry that yoke. He placed His yoke
around my neck and enslaved me. I paid the price for gaining the gift of rest.
When I look back over my life…back to when I lived much the
way the relative that says I make being a Christian harder than it has to be…I
can clearly see the difference in my life. I can see the price I paid for the
gift of rest I received. It was a price I’m grateful to have paid…it’s a yoke I
gladly wear. But it was a high price.
In earthly terms…it was a high price.
Compared to what Christ did for me…it wasn’t even a penny’s
worth of payment.
The price I paid is an insult compared to the gift I
received.
When I do laundry I often find…things…in the washing
machine. Toys, sticks, acorns…money. Once after finding a penny in the washer I
told my husband that I think I got insulted. A penny in payment for doing
laundry is worth less than nothing. I knew the penny wasn’t in payment, most
likely it belonged to our young son who never fails to leave ‘treasures’ in his
pockets. But had that penny been the payment for doing that day’s laundry…it
would have been an insult.
That is what my payment is worth to my Lord. The gift He has
given me is so great that the most valuable payment I could give him is but an
insult.
All of us have become
like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we
all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Isaiah
64:6 NIV
My greatest offering is but a filthy rag. It’s less than
nothing. I can’t begin to pay for the gift I’ve been given and yet…
Pay I must. Because the payment is extracted from me in the
yoke that was placed upon me. I didn’t choose to pay the price. I didn’t offer
to pay it. I didn’t ask to be charged for it. But I paid it anyway. I gladly
pay it daily.
I pay for the gift in the wearing of the yoke that I took
upon me. I may not have chosen to take the yoke but once I had it, it was a
yoke I am grateful to wear.
The next part of the payment for the rest I have received
is…
learn from Me.
I must learn from Christ daily. I must learn from His word.
I must learn from even the pain that He places in me. I think again of how I
‘make being a Christian harder than it has to be’ and of the pain that afflicts
my heart each time I encounter sin…the pain that made me give up so much of the
world.
Halloween is a perfect example…I literally hurt, cringe,
ache inside when I encounter things of Halloween. A few days ago a neighbor
asked me if I would be in town on Halloween. I told her we don’t celebrate
Halloween, and as I said it I looked at the skeletons and other creatures
decorating her front door. In shock she told me she didn’t know we don’t
celebrate such a sin-filled holiday (my term, not hers).
I let the conversation drop at that but the reality
is…Halloween hurts my heart. It hurts my soul. It makes me ache just thinking
about it.
And so I pay the price for the yoke I wear because the Lord
charges a high price. And He gives a high reward. In paying the price of giving
up what hurts my heart and soul, I gain peace. I gain rest.
But that is only a small part of the learning from Him that
I must do. I must submit all of me into His care and will. And even
that…doesn’t properly describe what happens because I don’t submit myself to
him so much as he takes me captive. He has bound me to him surely as if He
chained me to his side. And in binding me with His invisible chains…He removed
the chains of this world that had me bound.
And still…I must pay for my rest by learning of Him. But the
learning…the paying…comes easy, because it makes my heart and soul light to pay
that price. It feeds my soul to learn of my Lord.
But that price…
Can only be paid because my Lord has taken me captive and
placed His yoke upon me.
Scripture perfectly explains how that works…
… and you will find
rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
The yoke that He has placed upon me is easy, His burden is
light. Because in placing me within His yoke he removed from me the bondage of
sin that the world placed upon me.
Instead of me making ‘being a Christian harder than it has
to be’, Christ placed his yoke on me which made being a Christian so much
easier than anything of this world. As I obey him…as I seek to ease the hurt in
my heart and soul…life becomes so much simpler. Being a Christian becomes easy.
It’s much like playing follow the leader. He leads me
through those pain-filled promptings and all I have to do is obey.
My yoke is easy…
The Greek word for easy translates as good and gracious. And it is a very good translation. The yoke
that Christ has placed upon me is a good and gracious yoke. Far from making
life…from making being a Christian…harder, it has made it so much simpler. It
has brought with it a peace that I never would have dreamed exists until I
experienced it for myself.
A few months after my husband and I were married I was
sitting on our back porch while he worked outside. I set there…looking at the
woods that surround our house and the sky…just absorbing the peace, perfectly
content. Out of the blue my husband asked me if I was okay. After telling him I
was I asked him why he asked. He said he was used to people that when they sat
and stared off into space that they were angry and discontent. I wasn’t
anywhere close to either of those things. I was very much at peace…content…just
looking at the world my Lord made.
I do that often. Just sit and absorb the peace of my Lord’s
creation. I have a relative that finds no peace in Creation. This person
doesn’t like the outdoors and speaks often of how awful being
outside…especially in the woods…is.
I think that is a good example of the ease of the yoke I
wear. I paid the price of giving up the movies, the music, the world, that the
relative who doesn’t like the woods has…but I gained the peace of total contentment.
Recently I was speaking with the relative that dislikes the
woods about the faith my husband and I have. This relative told me that they
hope they never marry anyone that has that kind of faith. Sadly I had to tell
them that I hoped they don’t either. Not for them but for the one that shares
the faith I hold. I went on to tell them that I imagine someone with the faith
of this relative and someone with the faith I hold…would make each other
miserable in marriage.
The yoke that this relative wears is the yoke of the world.
They are a slave to the world and its ways. How deep they will go into bondage
to the world and to sin, I do not know, but I know they are as bound as if they
were in chains.
I know too, that someone wearing the yoke of Christ holds a
bondage that is freeing. They are no longer tethered in the same way. The one
in bondage to the world…much like the relative that says I make Christianity
harder than it has to be…cannot handle the ease of the yoke of Christ. It rubs
and chaffs them; it weighs them down until they feel as if they are drowning.
And it’s much too heavy for them to carry around.
But for the person that has been saved by Christ…the yoke is
easy. It’s freeing. It takes away the heavy chains and the burdens we once
carried. That yoke is a delight to wear and to carry.
But far from teaching that the cost of the prize…Christ’s
rest…is high, far from showing those they lead that there is a price to be paid
for attaining that rest…’leaders’ in the majority of ‘church’ buildings teach
only the first part…that the rest is there if you will ‘come to Christ’. There
are no stipulations attached. They don’t explain that most of the people that
want to grab onto the rest would chaff and get bogged down to the point of
drowning by the yoke they must carry to claim the rest.
Instead they teach that the rest is there for the claiming
to all who care to claim it. But that’s as far as they go. They don’t teach
that there are commandments to be kept or that the price is high. They don’t
stand in front of those they ‘lead’ and say…it will cost you everything.
They don’t remind those being led that Christ spent His
earthly life fulfilling his Father’s will, fulfilling a plan that was foretold
hundreds of years before His birth. They don’t teach that Christ himself bore a
yoke. Look back to the verse above…
Take My yoke upon you…
Take my yoke. Christ didn’t say take a yoke. He didn’t say
take the yoke. He said take my yoke. Mine.
…and learn from Me…
What are we to learn from Christ? He tells us in the very
next words He says…
for I am gentle and
humble in heart,
Christ came to earth to fulfill a plan that was foretold of
long before He was born onto earth. He was here to do His Father’s will. Was
His purpose on earth not a burden? Did He not carry his own yoke? And still He
tells us…
For I am gentle and
humble in heart. Christ’s sole purpose on earth was to fulfill the plan of
His Father. To do what He was sent to earth to accomplish. But even in that
purpose He set an example for us. We are to learn from Him. To follow Him.
There is much required of the person that has the yoke of
Christ placed upon them. Much will be given to them…but much will be required
of them also.
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as
he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and blameless before him. In love 5 he
predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the
purpose of his will…Ephesians 1:3-5 ESV
We are told in the verse above how we came
to have the yoke placed upon us… he chose
us in him before the foundation of the world. And we are told why… that we should be holy and blameless before
him….he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ,
according to the purpose of his will.
It was the Lord’s will to place that yoke
upon us. But we are told…
…you will find rest for your souls. For My
yoke is easy and My burden is light.
The Lord chose who out of all time would wear His yoke but
He requires a price be paid for that yoke. We can’t simply take the rest that
is offered us and wear it without paying the price he charges. And for many the
price of Christ’s yoke is too high. They simply cannot pay it because they
haven’t been given the ability to pay it. Only those that the Lord chooses to
wear His yoke will be able to carry it…not as a burden but as a delight.
The relative that told me they didn’t want to marry someone
with my faith couldn’t not wear the yoke Christ spoke of. Not at this time in
their life. Someday, I pray, the Lord will save this person and place the yoke
upon them, but right now…the yoke is more than they can conceive of wearing.
Because the rest offered through that yoke is a rest in Christ. It’s a rest
that comes only through Christ and not through the desires of this world.
We are told in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to…
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test
yourselves.
How telling would it be if the many that profess to be ‘Christians’
looked to…
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
And applied it to 2 Corinthians 13:5? I’ve heard it said
that there will be many a professing ‘Christian’ in hell. How easy we can
examine our faith by examining our yoke. Is the yoke we carry Christs? Is it
heavy or light?
How nice it would be if a professing ‘christian’ could
determine if their faith was saving faith simply by examining their yoke. Sadly…too
many wear a yoke that is the yoke of the world and they place Christs name upon
it.
Just as my relative…a professing Christian…says I make being
a Christian harder than it has to be…while wearing a yoke that tethers them to
so much of the world that it would drown me.
John Newton (1725-1807) said, "This verse alone, if
seriously attended to, might convince multitudes that, though they bear the
name of Christians and are found among the Lord's worshiping people, they are as
yet entire strangers to the religion of the Gospel. Can it be supposed that our
Lord would give a false character of His yoke? If not, how can any dream that
they are His followers while they account a life of communion with God and
entire devotedness to His service, to be dull and burdensome? Those, however,
who have made the happy trial, find it to be such a burden as wings are
to a bird. Far from complaining of it, they are convinced that there is no real
pleasure attainable in any other way."
How right Newton was but today’s ‘Christianity’ has been so
changed and altered from the truth of Scripture that most professing ‘Christians’
wear a yoke they believe to be Christ’s and they wear it with ease. They can’t
examine their faith in light of that yoke because the ‘leaders’ today don’t
teach a yoke like the one Newton spoke of, they teach a yoke that looks much
like the desires of the sin-filled human heart.
And that yoke…is light. So much so that it places few…if any…restrictions
on the ‘Christian.’ Today’s ‘Christianity’ teaches that a ‘Christian’ can be
anything they want to be and that ‘Jesus’ will not only allow but support what
they want to do.
The ‘Christians’ of the professing world go about their
lives doing and believing what they believe to be okay in God’s eyes without
ever understanding that much of those things are sin. They are lost in their ‘Christianity’
just as much as if they weren’t ‘Christian’ at all.
But to the true Christian…the yoke of Christ really is a
delight to wear and it is easy. There is no burden involved. It isn’t hard to
be within His yoke because the path inside that yoke is light, it is paved with
the will of our Lord for the purpose He has for us. And even when the way gets
rocky there is peace and rest in Christ.
Just as I find total peace and contentment in simply gazing
upon the creation of my Lord, I find peace and contentment in wearing His yoke.
I think, once again, of the relative that told me they don’t
want to marry someone that holds my faith. And I think of how I hope…for the
sake of the one that shares my faith…that at this stage in my relatives life…they
don’t marry someone with my faith. I, too, must think of how the two would make
each other miserable. While the one that has been saved by Christ walks in the
peace and contentment of the Lord…my relative would wear that woke with
discomfort and discontent.
Because the yoke of Christ is unbearable to the
unregenerate. The yoke that comes so easy, so delightful, to the child of
Christ…would drown the unregenerate. The price that must be paid for wearing
that yoke…while feeling like nothing but pleasure to the saved…would be
unbearable to the unregenerate.
That conversation…with my relative…happened before I started
writing this but I think of that imagined marriage and can clearly see in it an
example of the wearing of Christ’s yoke.To the one…the yoke is welcome, a
delight…to the other…it would be torture and they wouldn’t be able to sustain
carrying it for long.
When my husband and I met we talked of how most people
couldn’t stay in the deeper Scriptural conversations we had for very long. We
talked of how most people quickly escape from any such conversation. It’s much
the same with Christ’s yoke. For the child of Christ…wearing the yoke is
pleasure and we not only seek to stay in it, we look for a way of wearing it in
a deeper way. But for the unregenerate…they seek constantly for a way to throw
the yoke off.
I conversation with the relative that says I make being a
Christian harder than it has to be comes to mind as I write this. This relative
instigated a conversation by asking me about something I was reading. After I read
a bit of it, this person told me that we need more preachers teaching on things
like what I was reading, that ‘God’ wants more preachers to preach on that
topic. I told them that if God wanted more people teaching on that topic…more
preachers would preach on it.
The conversation ended soon after that. This person was not
inclined to stay in that conversation. I understood that. I understood why.
But that very conversation was a perfect example of the
yoke. Those that are in Christ…that have had his yoke placed upon them can wear
it with ease and happiness. Those that are unregenerate not only don’t want the
yoke of Christ placed upon them but they can’t wear it very long before it
buries them with the weight of carrying it around. They must escape it all
costs.
Even as they escape the true yoke of Christ, many of them
believe they are wearing it. Because they ‘came to Christ’ and they accepted
the gift He offered. They wear it with pride, professing a salvation that may
well be nothing but an illusion.
I heard a reformed preacher say that there will be many
professing ‘Christians’ in hell. They will get there not only through their own
desire to accept the gift Christ offers without paying the price for it but they
will be helped there by many a preacher that tells them they are assured of
their place in heaven.
Those professing ‘Christians’ that will one day find
themselves in hell, may well believe…if they were to test themselves by looking
to the yoke they wear…that they are assured of their salvation because so many
a preacher and ‘leader’ of the ‘church’ buildings have assured them that
salvation is easy.
And it is easy…to those that are in Christ. To those that
have been saved by Christ and have had the true yoke of Christ placed upon
them. But for the rest…even many of those that profess to be ‘Christians’…the
yoke is heavy.
Because that yoke goes against the lusts of the flesh. It is
in direct opposition to the sinful desires of their hearts. As they live to
please their own flesh they cannot help but be offended by the denial that
comes with the yoke of Christ.
But to the true child of Christ…to the saved…to the
regenerate…to the one that is a slave to Christ, not through their own will but
through His…that yoke is a delight to bear and a security that they take
comfort in each day. Instead of being something they strive to throw off and
escape at every opportunity…it is something they wouldn’t give up if they
could.
A.W. Pink puts it this way... What is heavy to flesh and blood,
is light to faith and grace. I think that is such a beautiful way of describing
it. It is light to faith and grace. In Christ we have been given both faith and
grace. The Christian lives their life from the time of their salvation in a
state of faith and grace. And it’s in that place that the yoke Christ places
upon us becomes easy to bear…not only that but it becomes a delight to bear. It
is…almost…as if the yoke itself is grace and faith.
There is such bondage in sin that the sinfilled heart is one
of misery. Even as the unregenerate person goes through every day believing
themselves happy, there is always something else they seek after. Something
else they need and want more than what they have. There is no true contentment.
I have a daughter that is fascinated with the big expensive
homes. She loves to drive through the neighborhoods just looking at them. We
talk of how she likes those homes and why I don’t.
In turn I talk to her of what is now being called ‘tiny
houses’. Those little bitty homes that sometimes don’t have enough room for an
adult to stand up in. I could be much happier in one of those tiny homes than I
could be in one of those very large, bordering on mansion, homes. I would
rather have a bit more room to move around, would rather have the space for
family within the walls of my home. But there would be more peace and
contentment in one of those tiny houses than in the big houses my daughter
likes.
Those big houses are a perfect example of the ‘we can never
have enough’ syndrome our society suffers from. In their own way the tiny
houses represent the same thing but for me…they are a direct contrast between ‘never
enough’ and ‘content’. In a tiny home…you must limit your belongings and be
happy with what you have or do without because there simply isn’t enough space
to own more things. In a big home…you need more and more to fill it up.
Within the yoke…or bondage…of the world there is never
enough. Happiness isn’t attained in another movie, another car, or another
husband. In the yoke of Christ…happiness is attained within the yoke itself.
There is contentment in where you are and with what you have.
In one…there is bondage…slavery…to the sin in the world. In
one there is bondage to the creator of the world. In one there is a longing, an
ever increasing desire, for something bigger and better than one has. In the
other…there is nothing greater than what they already have.
In the greatness of the yoke that the child of Christ wears…they
have a peace that brings true contentment. They have a joy in the world that
will sustain them through even the toughest trials. Even when everything hurts,
when they feel as if everything is falling apart…they have a Strength that will
see them through. They hold a joy that those enslaved to the world cannot
understand. And it’s in that joy where everything becomes easier and not
harder.
The child of Christ may experience opposition from all
directions but will still find the yoke of Christ to be not only easy but also
delightful. In their hardest, darkest moments…they can only get so far within
that yoke. They are bound to Christ as if they are chained to him. Hurt may
come but they will continue to take comfort in the yoke they wear. They will
gladly live in obedience to Christ and will find that yoke easy to bear even as
the world tells them it’s difficult.
Consider the idolatry of the worship of the 501(c)(3) jesus Inc franchises and the pickle they are now in:
Want to keep you tax free perks including tax exempt property and housing allowances and gifts to the pastor? Your NGO money? Your parishioner’s tax deductible contributions?
Then bow to Caesar and do what we say is the law. For you forgo your Constitutional Free Speech, Your Constitutional Freedom of Assembly, and your Freedom of Religion once you became a licensed “fictitious person” via the not for profit letter from the IRS.
The recent Supreme Court decree, being the law of the land, combined with the permit from Caesar create the reality that their Constitutional Rights are removed thus they traded their Liberty for License. Just the same as Esau traded his rights for benefits, so did these jesus Inc. franchises!
You will now marry and bury whom the law SAYS you will. Don’t like it? Then you violate the law of the land and will suffer the consequences!
Can’t speak about or against Caesar either!
This will split wide open the dividing line between Truth and Error, as the government forces the hand of the fence sitters!
These are EXCITING TIMES friends!