Burn Your Old Yoke

UV 4145/10000 Burn Your Old Yoke Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me (following Me as My disciple), for I am gentle and humble in heart, and You will find rest ( renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. Matthew 11 v 29 The heavy yoke of religious practices universally followed will not give man peace and rest. The heavy yoke of old covenant or old testament rules ( followed till today by both Jews and Muslims) will not give rest and peace. Jesus offers the lighter yoke, the lighter burden. The heavy yoke Jesus referred to is the weight of human guilt, the weight of God-given and man-made laws and rituals. The heavy yoke is the weight of karma or the teaching that one needs to free oneself by good deeds. The lighter yoke is the mustard seed of faith in Jesus, the smallest of all seed, that is planted in the hearts and minds of man. It becomes the radiating nucleus of life, the central point, the focus of our lives and sets us free of all bondages of laws, curses, personal weaknesses, fears. Jesus took the heavy yoke of the cross upon His shoulders and once He shed His blood on the accursed wood to which He was nailed, each drop of His blood became the lighter yoke which gives birth to new life in all believers’ hearts. We find our rest, renewal, blessings, peace, Shalom, freedom, eternal and abundant life through faith in what He accomplished on the cross. There is no more burden to prove ourselves to God. We no longer need any validation or approval from other human beings. We only need to embrace, accept the lighter yoke of renewing our minds with the word and the Spirit of God to prove what is good, acceptable and perfect in the sight of God. The lighter yoke is to walk in the way the Holy Spirit indicates to us, day after day, saying, “ Walk in this path, the path of Jesus, the good path where you will find rest, peace, salvation for your souls, abundance of blessings”. We do not therefore, have a dead yoke placed on us but a living yoke placed inside us that is always pulsating, growing, fruitful. This living and lighter yoke is the word of God, living, active, deep penetrating our souls, releasing grace and power that makes our souls stronger than even our bones. There is a real danger of many new covenant believers living old testament lives. We need to burn the old ploughs ( yokes) that weigh us down like Elisha who burnt the old ploughs before following Elijah as his disciple. Likewise, when we decide to follow Jesus, we can burn our old yoke.