An Invitation To Take Up The Yoke Of Jesus

"Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

The Apostle Matthew, the former tax collector, recorded these words of Jesus, The Christ, as He spoke to the crowd of lost sinners and extended to them an invitation to follow Him.  The invitation was to all those who were weary from life's labor, and those who were weighted down with the burdens of life.  Jesus said that He would give rest to the weary, and He would lighten the load of those carrying more than they could handle.  He said that the yoke that they carry was heavy, but His yoke was easy and light weight.  If they would learn of Him, and from Him, they would find that He is gentle and humble, and the He could save and give rest to their lost souls.

The invitation which Jesus extended was to all of the lost souls then, as well as to those who are lost today.  To those of us who would follow Him, He offered to take the heavy load of our burdens from us, and to carry them for us.  Although all were invited, only a few of us will accept His invitation and follow Him.  But those of us who take up His yoke, who pick up the cross daily (Luke 9:23) and follow Him, who learn that which He teaches us, will find rest for our souls.  This invitation contains three commands, "come", "take", and "learn".  If we obey these commands and come to Jesus, take up His yoke and follow His ways, and learn from Him who is the Master Teacher, we will be rewarded with relief from our burdens; rest for our bodies now and eternal life our souls later on; and we will learn the Truth and gain wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.  This is an invitation to trust in The Lord Jesus, and to develop and intimate and personal relationship with Him.  The yoke of Jesus is becoming one of His disciples and making a commitment to follow Him.  The benefit for doing this is the forgiveness of our sins, (1 John 1:9)  the gift of eternal life,  (Romans 6:23) and everything that happens to us in this life will end up being for our good. (Romans 8:28)