A Burden that is Light is No Burden
This morning I had a call with my One Will Creation group, our community call that we do once a month. One of my clients, his name is *Austin Soderquist. He does children's books that teach really positive values and principles. Austin shared with us on the call that he consciously dedicated his books and his writing to God. He was open to however God wanted to use that skill, that talent of his. Ever since he dedicated his gift, he's had more opportunities come up about ways that people want to use his books. Lots of different opportunities are happening that he never would've thought possible. All things start working together for good when we dedicate our lives, our talents, and everything to God. As a result of the conversation that we had in the training that I did today on Spiritual Gifts in our One Will Creation community, with what Austin shared, I had this vision of taking Christ's yoke upon me. We know that's in the scriptures (Matthew 11:29-30) when we feel burdened, this is the invitation of Christ…to take his yoke upon us. His burden is light, it's easy.
Whenever I've envisioned myself taking Christ's yoke upon me, I see a team of oxen. Two people yoked together. We're harnessed together…two people are able to pull harder or easier than one person by himself. The burden becomes lighter because you're sharing the load between you, between me, and Christ. But that’s not what the scripture says. If you have followed me, you know I have lots of other ideas on that. In fact, I created a blog post about Christ’s yoke. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eRUsytfVa-j3hqdsCLS5M_wnRV9XPbVNTlRk0NPtTF4/edit?usp=share_link It's not even that, it's not even me and Him pushing and pulling together makes life easier. It's that Christ's yoke is easy, it's light.
Christ doesn't carry burdens! If we take his yoke upon us, there are no burdens to pull. There was never a burden. It wasn't a burden after all. That's a totally different subject than what I want to focus on today, but I want to give you something to envision and think about as we continue on.
We were talking about spiritual gifts…how we all bring our gifts to the table as members of the body of Christ. That's in Romans 12:4-5. If we all bring our gifts to the table, if we all bring our gifts to the body of Christ, then everybody can benefit. We're a team…like a team of oxen…working together. Back to that idea of yoking yourself to Christ. When I realized it’s a team effort, I no longer saw it as just me and Christ. All of a sudden I saw it as me, Christ, and 7 billion other people. I saw a 7 billion harnessed yoke! That was really cool. I think of all the people in the world, all the talents, all the gifts that they have, some people are stronger than others, some people are better leaders, some people are more compassionate. Everyone brings their talents, their genius to the table or, in this case, to the yoke.
We all get to benefit. If we harness ourselves with Christ we get to benefit from all the other people who have harnessed themselves with Christ. Of course, we know that everybody's not going to choose to do that, but there are a lot of people who do choose to yoke with Christ. There are a lot of people who choose Christ. Immediately when we yoke ourselves to Christ, we get to have the community of Christ, our people, our team. It is a team, like a team of horses. The team gets to benefit from all the other talents, genius that is yolk to Christ well.
In the past I've thought of myself as the central cog in the wheel of my life. I can delegate things out, but everybody has to answer to me. I still have that burden. But if I yolk myself to Christ, Christ is the center of it all. He is this hub and we're all spokes in the wheel, or He's the central harness and we're all harnessed next to Him. Everybody answers to Him. Everybody looks to Him for strength. Everybody looks to Him for guidance. It takes all the burden off of me if I yoke myself to Christ. That's how all things can work together for good for those who love God and yoke themselves to Christ. It’s because all this stuff is happening with the skills and talents of the other 7 billion people that I wasn't even aware of. And yoking to Christ in this way, I'm never alone. I don't feel alone and I don't feel burdened. I don't feel that I have to be the one to figure stuff out.
For today this exercise that I want to do is to help us start thinking more in this concept of team. And not that I have a team and I am the leader of it or the center of it. As we yoke ourselves to Christ, Christ becomes the center and He is the leader. All things point to Him. Everybody looks to Him for the support, the strength, and the guidance for the team. We're one of those people who yoked in with Christ. We're one of the members of the body of Christ who look to Him. No one is looking to you for all of that. They are looking to Christ, just like you are looking to Him.
Being yoked like this, when other people are moving forward, it takes us forward too! If I have to rest, I can envision myself hanging from the harness, taking a nap while everybody else is still moving forward. I wake up and I think, “Oh, wow, all things work together for good. Here we are and I didn’t have to do anything!”
For this moment, let's go ahead and take a deep breath. As you're breathing in, have this vision of you being part of this yoke of Christ that is however many infinite harnesses big. You're one of those people who is choosing to be in Christ and have Him in you. You have an important part to play. You are part of the team. It is important that you're here. There are specific gifts and talents that you bring to the table or you bring to the team. Be aware of what you bring to the team, the talents, the gifts, the genius. It could be something that you think is even really small, but that one small thing is going to help the team continue to move forward. When somebody else is taking a rest, you can continue moving forward. All things and all people are working together for all.
What are some of the skills or the talents that you maybe lack or maybe you're not quite as good at, but in the past, you've taken that burden on yourself to do it, even though it's not yours to do. Then looking around at all your co-teammates harnessed to Christ… look at the sheer number of people who have those gifts. They can do something that is different from what you are talented at. When you are faced with a situation where you need to bring that to the table, you can look around at your co-teammates. You can take a break and let that person continue forward. It's like the geese that are flying in the “V”, one gets tired, they drop back and somebody else takes the lead. They're all still moving forward as one. Close your eyes, see Christ at the center. You are one of this huge infinite team of members of the body of Christ, of brothers and sisters who are all walking together, forward.
What is the number one most important thing that you could do today that would alleviate either yours or one of your teammates' burdens? That is your Inspired Shortcut for today. Yoked with Christ and all those who choose Christ, bringing your talents to the team, also seeing that other people are bringing their talents to the team. Know that this one thing is going to lift the burden of someone else, or it's going to lift your burden. Honor that inspire shortcut as you would a life line. I invite you to take action on that Inspired Shortcut immediately. Remember anytime you feel burdened, envision that we are a team. We are a team of Christ followers Christ lovers. We love to take His yoke upon us because it is light. We are a team of Christians, we're moving forward together.
*Austin Soderquist is an author of children’s books that teach wholesome values and principles. Go to this link to learn more: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B074M69CCK
