“Fight the good fight for the true faith.
Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have
confessed so well before many witnesses.” I Timothy 6:12 NLT
The yoke is not only a means of adopting
Jesus’ triumphant way of living, but it is also a sign of ownership.
Jeremiah made a yoke for himself to wear as
a sign that Judah, his beloved nation, would wear the yoke of the king of
Babylon. Since Judah had worshipped Babylon’s
idols, she then had to wear Babylon’s yoke.
(Jer. 27:2,12)
I cannot avoid the consequences of
submission to the wrong master. Paul
says that I am the slave of either sin or righteousness. (Romans 6:15-16)
He also implies that whichever master I
serve, I must wear his yoke or ownership.
I cannot indulge in sin without giving up some of my sovereignty to
it. Just as I cannot be partially
married, so I cannot be partially righteous.
The only way I can escape my yoke to sin or
the world or Satan is to break it! Naturally,
I cannot break that yoke by my own power, but God says He will help me: “…..now
I will break his yoke from upon you, and snap your bonds asunder.” (Nahum
1:13)
Praise God for His resource of power! However, that power cannot become operative
in me until I will to have it do so; in short, I must want the yoke broken so
intensely that I freely invite God to smash it to pieces for me.
Despite the strength of the yoke, or the
length of time I have served under it, God is sufficiently mighty to redeem me
from its authority and stronghold.
Jeremiah lamented that his people had
broken God’s yoke over them. (Jer. 2:20; 5:5)
God help that I never find His yoke so
confining, so enslaving, and so disagreeable that I every contemplate breaking
it off me. To wear the yoke of Jesus is
the highest of honors, and the most lasting and satisfying of vocations.
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