Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30
We are not slaves
We are expected to put our hands to the plough, that is sure
We are not to look back, sure again
But we are not forced by our Heavenly Father to do so
We do not have to do anything
His yoke is easy and His burden is light
And there, we will find rest for our souls
The reason for that is that if we humble ourselves before Him
and do things His way,
He will help us in each and every area, every way,
If we choose to serve this world and the delicacies thereof,
we shall be under heavy yokes of bondage
The tempter lures us away
If the plough drops, the work He has planned for our life doesn’t get done
‘Come and see, it is easier this way’, says the tempter,
‘You don’t have to labor so much,’
Our work is to remain close to the Lord and learn of Him,
to try the best we can to do things His way
Obedience to Him
He sees our every effort,
knows our every thought,
His kingdom will reign brightly in our lives if we keep our hand to the plough,
keep tilling that soil for the harvest,
not looking back at what the world has to offer us
When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane,
the disciples fell asleep while Jesus was sweating great drops like blood
because He knew what was about to happen
They weren’t much help
Jesus was on His own as far as people,
but He had the Father who did not leave Him alone
It wasn’t until afterwards, down the road a bit,
that the disciples understood what had happened
and realized the fulness of who Jesus was and how they had disappointed Him
The Rich young Ruler disappointed Jesus, and himself as well:
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running,
and kneeled to him, and asked him,
Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?
there is none good but one, that is, God.
Thou knowest the commandments,
Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness,
Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
And he answered and said unto him,
Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him,
One thing thou lackest: go thy way,
sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come,
take up the cross, and follow me.
And he was sad at that saying,
and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. Mark 10:17-22
Our Lord knew all the efforts this Rich Young Ruler had made
toward the Kingdom of God,
Jesus still told him he lacked something…
sell all that ye have and give to the poor
The Rich Young Ruler did not want to do that
He still valued his earthly treasures
The choice he made was grim
We do not know if that meant he would not be saved
because he was not willing to give up the one thing the Lord said he lacked
There are costs to following Christ
They are different for each one of us
Though the gift of Salvation is given freely by our Lord,
He will ask for more
He wants our whole heart
He wants everything we have
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot:
I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Revelation 3:15-16
Though there is no way we can pay Jesus back for what He did for us
And that is not the purpose of doing things for Jesus
or giving up things for Jesus
The purpose is committing yourself to Him so much
because you realize how important He is
He also taught that it was not easy and would not be easy
And there would be things we would leave behind
That is where His yoke comes in, the easy one, the light burden
Once you have realized this, serving the world becomes the heavy burden
Leave it all behind,
while walking the narrow road,
while carrying your cross:
Then Peter began to say unto him,
Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.
And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you,
There is no man that hath left house, or brethren,
or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake,
and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time,
houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands,
with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. Mark 10:28-30
Peter got it
He knew he had given up things to follow Jesus
and Jesus acknowledged that
Jesus tells us in Revelation:
“…Hold fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
When I first realized this verse,
I wondered how someone could take my crown
The only thing that makes sense to me
is that if we stop valuing the heavenly realm,
or if we ever stop valuing our crown, it may just not be there
Jesus talked of treasure in heaven
Jesus is our treasure
He is our treasure in heaven
Knowing Jesus is knowing the secret of Eternal life
If your eyes have been opened, you are truly blessed,
if this is all folly to you, pray for yourself to be able to see
The other treasures this world has to offer will all be consumed
They will not last
Only what we have done for Christ will matter
Only the talents we have used for His kingdom will be rewarded
So, keep your eye on the prize
I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14
Accumulate as much heavenly wealth as you possibly can
Pleasing Him, loving, forgiving, proclaiming the Kingdom of God is near
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Luke 12:34