If any of us have been on a farm we’ve seen some animals working as a team with a yoke on. If you are acquainted with fashion you understand the yoke of a collar. If you are into fitness the yoke muscle. And the list goes on.
There was a time and still is when slavery was very common and the yoke of bondage was placed around the neck of people as if they were cattle. Now people wear the invisible yoke of bondage without knowing it.
In the prison system yokes are referred to as shackles. Another common unfamiliar yet very familiar name for yoke is sin.
Now this particular yoke is the one I will like to describe. I don’t know if in some countries they still have milk maidens but I’m sure that there are still people who wear yokes to carry things from one place to another. On each side are buckets and the person would try to balance the load for the travel either to or from. He or she would be travelling by foot up, down and around rough harsh road conditions and probably heavily populated places. Some maybe travelling in isolated areas as well. All the while the burden of their load has become heavier and heavier. Their neck, shoulders, arms, back, hips, legs and feet are tired and hurting not to mention their head.
Just imagine having to do this every single day of your life from the time you are old enough to walk or until you are either too old to walk or you drop dead. If you think it would not be a problem why not place a few bricks or books in a couple of bags and tie the bags or hold the bags by the handle and walk up and down steep and rocky hills or grounds in the hot sun or very cold for about six or eight hours just for one day in your neighborhood or out in the country.
Then again, some of us don’t have to go to that extreme because we are living that without CHRIST JESUS. For some of us escaping the reality of life through everything false, only to find ourselves having to medicate again. We are in anger and pain and we want out, we just don’t know how to get out. We tell our so called friends who provide us with all the wrong answers and they just pass us another whatever or pour more gasoline on the fire. Sin is fun temporarily and admittedly most things in life we have no idea is sinful unless we are set free from the yoke of bondage. Sin is not just cussing and illicit sex or smoking and such. Sin is not believing and trusting in JESUS and living in and for HIM and JESUS not being found to be living inside of us.
JESUS wants to take that yoke from around our necks, HE wants to remove that weight from off our heads, shoulders, arms, hips and legs. JESUS does not desire that we be burdened with the cares of this world but that we find pleasure in HIM and the life of HIS Word. JESUS desires to heal us from our soul so that it reflects outwardly because HIS Word is working inwardly.
Matthew 11:29-30, 23:4; Lk. 11:46; Phil. 2:5, Zech. 9:9, 1Jhn. 5:3