Re-creation

UV 704/10,000 Re-creation “Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11 v 29 The word “ yoke” means a responsibility or a burden or a position of servitude. We humble ourselves before God as His servants when we believe and receive Christ into our hearts and lives. Jesus says, “ take my yoke” meaning share His compassion for human beings and share His desire to save lost and perishing souls. When two bullocks are yoked together to pull the plough on the fields, the weight rests evenly on both. But, when we are yoked to Jesus for the rest of our lives, He bears the major part of the burden and only a small portion due to us rests on our shoulders. He has removed the weight of dos and don’ts of traditional religion to introduce us to a direct, personal, hassle-free and barrier-free relationship with God. There is no pilgrimage that we have to undertake, no painful ritual to do, no person to be satisfied in order to certify us worthy to be redeemed. Our focus in much of our lives is earning and not learning. Jesus said through this uni-verse to focus first on learning and learning from Him. Apart from being yoked with God through Christ, we need to learn from Him. This is the lifelong process of discipleship or godly training. He will teach us gentleness, humility and meekness. Though the Son of God, the Prince of Heaven, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, He lowered His status to be not just one of us but among the least of all human beings. We will learn as we meditate on His character and qualities, on His teachings and His actions. He never reviled or hated when He was reviled. He never threatened when He was subjected to cruelty. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, “ He never broke a bruised reed or put out a smouldering wick”, in the sense He did not condemn or look down upon any one. He did not shout or raise His voice in aggression. He surrendered His ego to God. He did not resist the cup of suffering He was given to drink. Once we have gone through step one- being yoked or personally bonded with God through Christ and step two- being discipled by Him and learning from Him, practicing His attitudes and imitating His actions and reactions, we will have rest. Another word for rest is “ recreation” or renewal. We will be re-created. The first time we were created we became mere creatures of God. This second time we are re-created to be children of God. Rest implies the absence of fear of death, fear of failure, anxiety about meeting our needs, insecurity about the future. It also means the presence of joy, peace, gladness, assurance, comfort, deliverance and hope. Prateep V Philip